Like many people across the country, I am quite enthralled with the BBC1 programme currently airing on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
What I didn't know, was that there is a version of the game you can join in with.
It's called The Traitors Live Experience and is to be found in a converted warehouse in London’s Covent Garden.
When you arrive, you check in at the front desk, then you are shown to a table in the bar area of the reception, to meet the other participants. There will be between 10 and 12 of you when you go through to play.
During your time at the bar table, you are given a tablet to put in your details. One of the questions is about the start of the game. You are asked if you would like to be a Traitor from the start. However, regardless of your answer to that question, you may be blackmailed into a Traitor position at any time after the start.
From the bar table we moved into a room with a round table where you are seated and remain in that position while various challenges take place. You can win gold or shields during the challenges.
When the Traitors meet in the turret, they remain seated with you all at the round table, however, Faithfuls have to don heavy blindfolds so we cannot see what they are doing. Of course, you have to hone your other senses, with me I was straining my ears to hear if there was any movement near me.
I heard movement to my left. My wife was on my left. I realised she had been nominated as a Traitor.
It was interesting how the game played out, but suffice to say that another man and I were the only Faithfuls left and through shear determination we outed the Traitors and won the kitty.
If you have a few hours to spare and fancy something different, you could do worse than play the game. You can book any number of people up to a full table, so groups up to 12 are welcome.
If you fancy a go, here are the details:
https://www.thetraitorslive.co.uk/
Derek R @DerekR
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A rapist has been convicted of an attack on a teenage girl in 2006 after a DNA breakthrough. A jury found Kennedy Jimmy, 44, guilty of rape following a five-day trial at Luton Crown Court. In October 2006, when he was 25, Jimmy, of Wessex Court, Sunny Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, attacked his victim in the back of a car in a supermarket car park in Shefford. He was arrested in November 2022 after a DNA match was found during a review of rape and sexual assault cases by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit. Victim's courage "Jimmy was able to carry on living his life while the victim endured the long-term trauma of rape," said Det Con Rhian Batterham-Jones. "However, he couldn't escape his despicable crime forever and justice has finally prevailed. "This case shows our commitment to pursuing those who commit violence and sexual offences against women - no matter how much time has passed, and I commend the victim's courage in reliving this ordeal nearly 20 years later. "I am pleased that because of the advances in forensic science, we have been able to put another sexual predator behind bars, where he belongs." Jimmy is due to be sentenced on 23 December. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gk0eenyg7o -
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Phone call between negotiators from both countries to prepare for peace talks turns sour. Donald Trump no longer plans to meet Vladimir Putin in Hungary, the White House confirmed. The US president will not meet the Russian leader in the “immediate future” after a phone call between negotiators from both countries to prepare for peace talks turned sour. On Thursday, Mr Trump said he would meet Putin in Budapest once high-level advisers from both sides held talks. Sources told The Telegraph that Moscow had cancelled plans to hold an in-person preparatory meeting. Mr Trump intended for officials from each side to convene in Hungary to prepare for the summit. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, spoke by phone call on Monday. According to reports, the call did not go well. Mr Lavrov is believed to have told Mr Rubio that Russia would not accept freezing the current front line in Ukraine in the tense phone call. Trump’s meeting with Putin in Hungary called off Phone call between negotiators from both countries to prepare for peace talks turns sour Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin Donald Trump had floated the idea of meeting with Vladimir Putin again Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP Connor Stringer, Washington Correspondent.Joe Barnes, Brussels Correspondent. 21 October 2025 4:57pm BST Donald Trump no longer plans to meet Vladimir Putin in Hungary, the White House confirmed. The US president will not meet the Russian leader in the “immediate future” after a phone call between negotiators from both countries to prepare for peace talks turned sour. On Thursday, Mr Trump said he would meet Putin in Budapest once high-level advisers from both sides held talks. Sources told The Telegraph that Moscow had cancelled plans to hold an in-person preparatory meeting. Mr Trump intended for officials from each side to convene in Hungary to prepare for the summit. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, spoke by phone call on Monday. According to reports, the call did not go well. Mr Lavrov is believed to have told Mr Rubio that Russia would not accept freezing the current front line in Ukraine in the tense phone call. However, on Tuesday the White House described the call as “productive”, adding: “Therefore, an additional in-person meeting between the secretary and foreign minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.” Mr Lavrov refused to compromise on Moscow’s maximalist position in discussions with Mr Rubio. “I want to officially confirm: Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the Alaska summit,” Mr Lavrov told reporters in Moscow after reports of his call with his American counterpart. Ukrainian and European sources were buoyed by the Russian refusal to negotiate amid fears Volodymyr Zelensky would be pressured to cede territory to Moscow as the price for peace. The Coalition of the Willing, a group of allied European nations, issued a statement accusing Putin of “stalling tactics” in his talks with Mr Trump. “We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction,” the statement added. Since meeting the US president in Alaska, Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraws from its eastern Donbas regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, as a precondition for peace. Mr Trump reportedly pressured Mr Zelensky to accept this proposal in a bruising encounter in the White House on Friday. Since meeting the US president in Alaska, Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraws from its eastern Donbas regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, as a precondition for peace. Mr Trump reportedly pressured Mr Zelensky to accept this proposal in a bruising encounter in the White House on Friday. “Listen, we have an understanding of the presidents, but we cannot postpone what has not been finalised,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said. “Neither President Trump nor President Putin gave exact dates.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/10/21/trump-no-longer-plans-meet-putin-hungary/ -
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************************************************ Warning: Please be aware that this article contains expletives including 4 letter words! ************************************************ The chart-topping pop star and actor Renée Rapp has excoriated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and Donald Trump in an expletive-filled onstage rant. Rapp was performing in Portland, Oregon, where Trump is attempting to send national guard troops, claiming that the city is a “war zone”. There have been continuous protests outside the city’s Ice facility in recent months. Rapp told the concert audience that as she was performing in Portland, “at the same time, some other people who shouldn’t fucking be here are … So let’s just make a few things abundantly fucking clear. Fuck Ice. Fuck this administration. And fuck Trump.” She is one of the fastest rising pop stars in the US, earning a UK No 1 album in August for her second album Bite Me, which reached No 3 in the US. She is also a successful stage and screen actor, taking a lead role in the Broadway production of the Mean Girls musical and in TV series The Sex Lives of College Girls. Rapp joins a number of musicians opposing Ice as immigration crackdowns intensify in the US under the Trump administration. “I got a new chain, it say: Fuck Ice,” declared Chance the Rapper on his recent album, Star Line. Meanwhile, Finneas – the singer and brother of Billie Eilish, who produces her music – said of an Ice protest he attended in Los Angeles: “Teargassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown. They’re inciting this.” Tyler, the Creator, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Kehlani also decried Ice’s activity in Los Angeles. Earlier this month, the country music star Zach Bryan debuted a snippet of a new song with lyrics including: “Ice is gonna come bust down your door … Kids are all scared and all alone.” The US Department of Homeland Security criticised him, with assistant secretary of public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, telling Bryan to “stick to Pink Skies, dude”, referring to one of his previous hits. The department also mockingly soundtracked an Ice enforcement video with a Bryan song. This week, the indie record labels Epitaph and Anti- called on Spotify to stop carrying advertisements for Ice. “Artists and fans deserve platforms that reflect the values of the culture they sustain,” each label said in a shared statement. Earlier in the week, Spotify defended carrying the ads, saying the “content does not violate our advertising policies”. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/17/pop-star-renee-rapp-delivers-expletive-filled-rant-against-ice-and-donald-trump -
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Footage from key battle zone in Donetsk is latest evidence of Moscow’s brutal treatment of its soldiers Russian soldiers were handcuffed to trees and left to die after defying orders to advance into Ukrainian territory, video footage recorded near the front line claims. The four soldiers, abandoned without food or water, were found by Ukrainian troops in the strategically vital zone near Lyman, which separates the opposing sides in Donetsk. It is understood the group had been abandoned by their commanders because they refused to advance again after the remainder of their unit was killed attempting to gain ground. The area around Lyman, north-east of Sloviansk, is a critical stretch of land that serves as a gateway to both the Donbas interior and the northern approaches to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Fighting in the area has been fierce since Ukraine’s counter-offensive recaptured Lyman in late 2022. A man speaking in the video, identified as Ilya Sergeyevich Gorkov of Russia’s 36th Motorised Rifle Regiment, claimed his group had been left for four days. Speaking with his arms tied around a tree trunk, he said they had been abandoned with “no food, no water, nothing, and they won’t take us anywhere to the toilet”. This is not the first time Russian soldiers have been seen punishing fellow troops by abandoning them between the front lines. In February 2025 footage circulated on social media showing Kremlin forces tying up their fellow soldiers in areas that were exposed to Ukrainian strikes. ‘You’ll die by drone or artillery fire’ In the most recent incident the group were allegedly told “you’ll die here under a kamikaze [drone] or under artillery fire”, according to Ukrainian war bloggers. It is thought that Mr Gorkov began his fourth deployment to Ukraine in April 2025 as a crew member on a TOS-1A Solntsepyok thermobaric rocket launcher. He was later reassigned to the infantry and placed in an assault detachment of the 36th Motorised Rifle Regiment in the Lyman area. War bloggers have reported Mr Gorkov’s mother said his unit was almost wiped out on a mission to take a Ukrainian-held settlement. When four survivors returned, their commander ordered them to attempt the mission again. The men refused and were then reportedly tied with their arms wrapped around trees. Russian forces, including elements of the 20th Combined Arms Army and airborne units, have been trying to push westward in Lyman to regain lost ground. Analysts describe the area as attritional and static, with Russia attempting small-scale assaults because of manpower shortages and Ukraine conducting limited counter-raids to exhaust Russian logistics. Control of Lyman affects both sides’ ability to manoeuvre in the northern Donbas and secure supply routes linking Svatove, Kreminna and Sloviansk. According to Western intelligence, Russia has moved to build up its troops in the area despite suffering heavy losses. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former British Army colonel and chemical weapons expert, told The Telegraph: “This has been a key objective for Russia, and they have been trying to take Pokrovsk for many months. Hitherto, they have suffered huge casualties.” He added: “Earlier this week, there were some reports of a large Russian tank assault, but this appears to have been beaten back with huge Russian casualties.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/10/17/russian-troops-handcuffed-left-for-dead-refusing-orders/ -
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A cannabis user has been convicted of unlawfully killing a drug dealer who arrived at his home armed with a knife. Kieran Roche, 30, was found not guilty of murdering Robert Tyler-Jones, after a trial at St Albans Crown Court, but guilty of manslaughter. Mr Tyler-Jones, 24, of Northaw, Hertfordshire, was fatally wounded, with a kitchen knife he had armed himself with, during a confrontation at Roche's flat in Cuffley, Hertfordshire, in April. Roche smiled and winked towards relatives in the public gallery after jurors returned their verdicts. He is due to be sentenced in December. Roche had denied unlawfully killing Mr Tyler-Jones - and pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter. He had told jurors he had been in a "fight for survival". St Albans Crown Court: a brown-and-red-bricked building with black-framed windows. The words "CROWN COURT" are written above the entrance in capital letters Image source,Brian Farmer/BBC Image caption, Kieran Roche has been found guilty of manslaughter after a trial at St Albans Crown Court Barrister Nathan Rasiah KC, prosecuting, said Mr Tyler-Jones told a friend that Roche had "stolen" two bags of cannabis from someone else. The barrister said Mr Tyler-Jones, a former warehouse worker, had bought one bag from Roche for £700 and wanted to buy the second. A few days before he died, Mr Tyler-Jones had joked that he could ''go rob'' Mr Roche. On 23 April, he armed himself with a kitchen knife and drove to Roche's flat, Mr Rasiah said. Mr Tyler-Jones was caught on CCTV running from Roche's flat shortly after arriving. He had suffered stab wounds to his abdomen and chest and died shortly afterwards. 'Fight or Flight' Roche told jurors how Mr Tyler-Jones had arrived at his flat and threatened him with a knife. He described how he had grappled with Mr Tyler-Jones but said he had not stabbed him and told jurors "it was obviously fight or flight for me". Mr Tyler-Jones had dropped the knife and left the flat, he said. "At the time I didn't actually know he had been stabbed," Roche told jurors. "The motion of going back and forward. The two of our hands has created a force which obviously ended up with him being stabbed. "I definitely didn't stab him." Judge Lana Wood adjourned sentencing until 18 December and remanded the killer in custody. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3x52vzxv3o -
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LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Three British right-wing extremists were jailed for a total of 29 years on Friday after they were convicted of planning to carry out an attack at mosques or synagogues as part of what they believed to be a coming "race war". Brogan Stewart, 25, Marco Pitzettu, 26, and Christopher Ringrose, 35, were preparing an act of terrorism when they were arrested in February 2024, prosecutors said at their trial. The trio were also each charged with two counts of collecting information which may be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism, while Ringrose was charged with manufacturing a component for a 3D-printed firearm. They pleaded not guilty but jurors at Sheffield Crown Court convicted them of all charges in May. Judge Johannah Cutts jailed Stewart, who prosecutors said played a leading role, for 11 years. Ringrose was jailed for 10 years and Pitzettu for eight years. Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford had told jurors that the three defendants expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and perpetrators of notorious terrorist attacks, as well as hatred for non-white people, especially Muslims and immigrants. "It was their belief that there must soon come a time when there would be a race war between the white and other races," Sandiford said. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/three-british-neo-nazis-jailed-planning-attacks-mosques-synagogues-2025-10-17/ -
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I had some dry Marie biscuits (no jam, cream or chocolate), which, although dated October 25, had gone a little soft. I spread some on the grid of my Air Fryer set the temperature at 180 and the time at 3 minutes then hit the on button. The result was as good as freshly cooked biscuits. Crispy, warm and tasty. I guess they can now be called trisquits (instead of "bi"). -
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The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize is Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado The award goes to the person or organisation that's done the most "for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses" US President Donald Trump had led a public campaign to win the award, but nominations closed in January - at the start of his second term in office Ha, ha! Trumped by a woman! -
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According to a new report by Moneyfarm.com, nearly a third of Britons under the age of 30 in a long-term relationship want nothing to do with them. Some said the concept felt outdated, while others said they worried they were a sexist tool to control women’s spending. https://www.newstalk.com/news/joint-bank-account-2199936 My wife and I have a joint account which we feed into proportional to each of our incomes, leaving the remainder of our incomes in our own private accounts. This works fine for us and means that we have plenty of money to pay for joint services as the invoices roll in, it also means we each have money of our own to spend on things we want to buy. Do you have a joint account and if so, how do you operate it? -
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Billionaire Elon Musk and Prince Andrew are named in new files released by Congressional Democrats that relate to the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. The files turned over to the House Oversight Committee by the Jeffrey Epstein Estate appear to show that Musk had been invited to Epstein's island in December 2014. Separately a manifest for a flight from New Jersey to Florida in May 2000 names Prince Andrew among the passengers. Musk and Prince Andrew have been approached for comment. Prince Andrew has previously strenuously denied any wrongdoing. Musk has previously been quoted as saying that Epstein had invited him to the island but he had declined. The partial records are from the third batch of documents produced by the Jeffrey Epstein Estate. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say they include phone message logs, copies of flight logs and manifests for aircrafts, copies of financial ledgers and Epstein's daily schedule. In addition to Musk and Prince Andrew, the files released publicly also contain the names of other prominent figures including internet entrepreneur Peter Thiel and Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Donald Trump One line in the records dated 6 December 2014 reads: "Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)" A flight manifest records that Prince Andrew was on a flight with Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell from Teterboro, New Jersey, to West Palm Beach, Florida, on 12 May 2000. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to traffic girls for sex. On 11 May 2000, Buckingham Palace said on its website that Prince Andrew had flown to New York to attend a reception in New York for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Andrew returned to the UK on 15 May, a later entry said. In the files, there is also an entry referring to a planned lunch with Peter Thiel in November 2017. There is also an entry referring to a planned breakfast with Steve Bannon 17 February 2019. The files also mention tentative plans for a breakfast party with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in December 2014. In 2022 Gates told the BBC that meeting Jeffrey Epstein had been a "mistake". It is not suggested that those mentioned in the files were aware of the alleged criminal activity for which Epstein was later arrested. Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. In 2008, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors after the parents of a 14-year-old girl told police in Florida that Epstein had molested their daughter at his Palm Beach home. He was arrested again in July 2019 on sex trafficking charges. Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for the Democrats on the committee, urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to release more files related to Epstein. "It should be clear to every American that Jeffrey Epstein was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world. Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims," she said. Republicans on the committee accused the Democrats of "putting politics over victims" and said they would release the full set of documents soon. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl8j1we0lo -
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Anything Friendly Helpful or Interesting Today, again, I've had a meal cooked by an Indian. (Edited)Thank goodness there are people who wouldn't be interested in eating a meal cooked by an Indian, it means we discerning members of the population dont have to suffer them in the restaurant. Not only was the meal cooked by an Indian, but it was in a restaurant run by a double Michelin Star chef, Atul Kochhar. In fact, before the meal, a group of non-racist people sat, watched, listened, and learned from Atul how to cook Indian food. We were attending a Masterclass in his Riwaz restaurant in Beaconsfield. He was very interesting to learn from, (one tip was to cook tomatoes towards the end of the cooking time), as they severely reduce the temperature of the pan, which means the other ingredients do not get the correct heat for the correct time. There were so many simple tips he shared to improve our cooking experience. Oh, and sliced tomatoes should be skin on, pips in. I've now been to four of his restaurants and the food is superb at all of them. If you get a chance to visit one (or more), I recommend that you take it up. The only thing you won't find there, are racists. -
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Israel-Hamas latest: Donald Trump denies any knowledge of 'unfortunate' Israeli attack on Qatar Donald Trump said he's "not thrilled" after Israel launched strikes on the Qatari capital of Doha yesterday, killing five low-ranking members of Hamas. Sir Keir Starmer criticised the attack as a "flagrant violation of sovereignty". https://news.sky.com/story/doha-strikes-hamas-latest-israel-idf-qatar-gaza-live-updates-13427415 -
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• Poland's armed forces say the country's airspace was "repeatedly violated by drone-type objects" during Russia's strikes on western Ukraine • It says some of these objects have been downed, marking the first time the Nato country has directly engaged Russian assets in its airspace since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 • A military operation has ended after Polish and Nato aircraft were deployed, while Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called an emergency meeting • Poland calls the incident an "act of aggression that posed a real threat to the safety of our citizens" - Russia hasn't commented yet https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2enwk1l9e1t -
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The letter, the existence of which was reported by the Wall Street Journal in July, appears to have been signed by Trump, but he has denied doing so and has said it does not exist. https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/house-democrats-release-alleged-donald-trump-letter-to-jeffrey-epstein-white-house-denies-authenticity/cid/2122056 -
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Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl." The priest asks, "Is that you, little Joey Pagano?" "Yes, Father, it is." "And who was the girl you were with?" "I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation." "Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?" "I cannot say." "Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?" "I'll never tell." "Was it Nina Capelli?" "I'm sorry, but I cannot name her." "Was it Cathy Piriano?" "My lips are sealed." "Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?" "Please, Father! I cannot tell you." The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself." Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, "What'd you get?" "Four months vacation and five good leads..." -
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My wife had said she didn't fancy anything for dinner tonight, it was going to be fajitas, but they've been deferred until tomorrow. There is a rack of ribs in the fridge that managed to attract my attention, but I wasn't quite sure I wanted them tonight. Then the doorbell went. "Who is that", I thought, "I'm not expecting visitors". So, I opened the door and there was my next-door neighbour standing there, holding out a container full of freshly cooked chicken curry she had just prepared. Impeccable timing, Impeccable food. I do like living next door to Sikhs. Such gentle and kind people. -
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Trump is trying, once again, to bully Zelensky into wearing a suit for the meeting in the Oval Office. Probably in a vain attempt to justify the previous attack on the Ukrainian when the dogs of war bit hard for no reason. Does it matter what he wears, if anything? Vance, when visiting Modi in India, didn't have the courtesy to wear the same attire as Modi. Instead he wore a suit, (undoubtedly the same he will wear today in an attempt to get his money's worth). What either man wore wasn't important, it's what they were discussing which was. The same will apply to the meeting in Washington today. To my mind it is subtle bullying and I hope Zelensky ignores the request. Below is the news item from the Independent which triggered me to write this post. _____________________________________________ Volodymyr Zelensky will wear a “suit-style” jacket during his meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office — months after the Ukrainian President’s last visit to the White House descended into a shouting match. The White House reportedly asked Ukrainian officials if Zelensky would wear a suit ahead of Monday’s meeting in D.C. with top European leaders and Trump, two sources told Axios. The high-stakes meeting comes months after Trump welcomed Zelensky into the West Wing and made jabs about his customary military-style attire, jokingly telling the press, “he’s all dressed up today.” Zelensky is set to wear the same black jacket he wore to a June NATO summit in the Netherlands, which sources described as being “suit-style” but not a full suit. That summit marked the first time Zelensky had donned a business-style jacket since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in Ukraine in 2022 — and the fashion choice impressed Trump, according to the report. One Trump advisor jokingly told Axios that “it would be a good sign for peace” if Zelensky dressed up on Monday, but added, “We don’t expect him to do it.” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-zelensky-oval-office-meeting-suit-b2809575.html -
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The talks with Putin in Alaska were a very predictable failure. Even the president’s famed deal-making abilities can’t end this war (Daniel DePetris 16 August 2025 5:00am BST Daily Telegraph) Mr Trump said very little during a joint press conference in Alaska On his way to Alaska to meet Vladimir Putin, president Trump told Fox News’s Brett Baier that he wouldn’t be happy if he left the summit without a ceasefire in Ukraine. “Now, I say this, and I have said it from the beginning: This is really setting the table today,” Trump said. “We’re going to have another meeting, if things work out, which will be very soon, or we’re not going to have any more meetings at all, maybe ever.” In short, Trump was well aware that anything could have happened in Alaska on Friday. In the event, after nearly three hours of talks, Trump and Putin stepped up to their lecterns touting unspecified progress and calling their discussions very productive. Putin, in his typical monotone, referred to the meeting with the US president as “long overdue”, cast blame on the Biden administration for allowing US-Russia relations to deteriorate, and credited Trump for at least being willing to meet face-to-face. Putin laid it on thick, going so far as to confirm Trump’s repeated assertions that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had still been holding court in the White House in February 2022. Trump, a man who likes to hear himself talk, was noticeably subdued at the press conference and said very little. He consistently claimed progress on the major topics of discussion without telling us what those topics were. Ever the gracious host (unless your name is Volodymyr Zelensky), Trump returned Putin’s flattery; the Russian leader, he commented, wanted peace in Ukraine as much as he did. Of course, there’s very little evidence supporting that statement. When all was said and done, there was no peace deal in Ukraine. Nothing on the conflict was settled. The immediate ceasefire that Trump, Zelensky and the Europeans hoped to squeeze out of the Russian strongman was nowhere to be found. On the big items, the summit failed. Daniel DePetris Trump has just discovered he isn’t as powerful as he thought he was The talks with Putin in Alaska were a very predictable failure. Even the president’s famed deal-making abilities can’t end this war Mr Trump said very little during a joint press conference in Alaska Mr Trump said very little during a joint press conference in AlaskaCredit: Kevin Lamarque Daniel DePetris Daniel DePetris 16 August 2025 5:00am BST On his way to Alaska to meet Vladimir Putin, president Trump told Fox News’s Brett Baier that he wouldn’t be happy if he left the summit without a ceasefire in Ukraine. “Now, I say this, and I have said it from the beginning: This is really setting the table today,” Trump said. “We’re going to have another meeting, if things work out, which will be very soon, or we’re not going to have any more meetings at all, maybe ever.” In short, Trump was well aware that anything could have happened in Alaska on Friday. In the event, after nearly three hours of talks, Trump and Putin stepped up to their lecterns touting unspecified progress and calling their discussions very productive. Putin, in his typical monotone, referred to the meeting with the US president as “long overdue”, cast blame on the Biden administration for allowing US-Russia relations to deteriorate, and credited Trump for at least being willing to meet face-to-face. Putin laid it on thick, going so far as to confirm Trump’s repeated assertions that the war in Ukraine would never have happened if he had still been holding court in the White House in February 2022. Trump, a man who likes to hear himself talk, was noticeably subdued at the press conference and said very little. He consistently claimed progress on the major topics of discussion without telling us what those topics were. Ever the gracious host (unless your name is Volodymyr Zelensky), Trump returned Putin’s flattery; the Russian leader, he commented, wanted peace in Ukraine as much as he did. Of course, there’s very little evidence supporting that statement. When all was said and done, there was no peace deal in Ukraine. Nothing on the conflict was settled. The immediate ceasefire that Trump, Zelensky and the Europeans hoped to squeeze out of the Russian strongman was nowhere to be found. On the big items, the summit failed. Mr Trump said very little during a joint press conference in Alaska The two leaders say their goodbyes after the press conferenceCredit: Anadolu But none of this should have been a surprise. Anybody who has been monitoring the three-and-a-half year war will tell you that neither Putin nor Zelensky is prepared to cede their maximum negotiating positions. The differences between Moscow and Kyiv remain unbridgeable at this point in time, so much so that many foreign policy analysts in the West were wondering why Trump even bothered to fly to Alaska in the first place. Zelensky wants a ceasefire before real negotiations begin; Putin wants to fight and talk simultaneously. Zelensky doesn’t want to cede any Ukrainian territory that Russia doesn’t already occupy, and he most certainly won’t recognise Russia’s territorial gains; Putin wants Ukrainian forces to lay down their arms, withdraw and gift the entire Donbas region, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, to him on a silver platter. Zelensky wants Western security guarantees; Putin doesn’t want any Western involvement in Ukraine’s future defence at all. The divergences go on and on, and a single high-level meeting, particularly one to which Zelensky wasn’t invited, was never going to resolve them. As we await the readouts from the White House and anticipate what agreements, if any, were actually reached, Trump will be returning to Washington with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he can talk solace in the fact that his talks with Putin didn’t break down, like the top-level diplomacy he instigated with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un more than six years before. He may even be able to call this entire endeavour a win if further talks are scheduled in the future. Meanwhile, the nervous nellies in Europe will be relieved that Trump didn’t negotiate swaths of Ukraine away to the Russians, a concern that nagged Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz to such an extent that an emergency summit with Trump was put in the calendar last Wednesday to talk him out of any moves he may have up his sleeve. Trump, however, is probably also a bit peeved by the outcome. Although the Trump administration tried to set the bar low, the president himself also outlined his expectations for the summit: a ceasefire and, if all goes well, another meeting, this time with Zelensky in the room. Instead, he’s leaving Alaska without the first item on his list and the second still up in the air. The fighting will go on as fiercely tomorrow as it did today. The bottom line here is simple: Trump may aggrandise and boast about his remarkable dealmaking abilities, but on the war in Ukraine, he isn’t the most important protagonist in the story. Trump can push, pressure, cajole and sweet-talk, but it’s Zelensky and Putin who will determine when the killing stops. As the US intelligence community wrote in a threat assessment earlier this year, “both leaders for now probably still see the risks of a longer war as less than those of an unsatisfying settlement.” Plenty has changed in the months since those words were published. But Trump’s big attempt at peacemaking notwithstanding, that conclusion still holds true. Daniel DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/08/16/trump-has-just-discovered-he-isnt-as-powerful-as-he-thought/ -
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If you like good music and you weren't watching BBC4 tonight, try to catch up on iPlayer if you can. It was such a delight to listen to. Played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, it was a superb performance. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002gv5c/bbc-proms-2025-dvoraks-new-world-symphony-at-the-proms -
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Current volunteering opportunities Independent Scrutiny & Oversight Board (ISOB) – Volunteer (Buckinghamshire) Thames Valley Police have committed to the development and deployment of the Race Action Plan across all areas of the force. The Action Plan aims to and racial disparity in every area of policing. The ISOB exists to provide overview and external scrutiny, to provide assurance of the Police’s Plan of Action and its Outputs. The expected time commitment is a maximum of 2 days per month split across a range of activities. Thames Valley ISOB represents the diversity reflected across our communities. We want this diversity to be present on our Board and are required to promote the recruitment of culturally diverse members, with a particular focus on representing, involving, and retaining those from under-represented communities and young people. We welcome applications from anyone regardless of age, experience, sexuality, religion/beliefs, disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, socio-economic background or other differences. This voluntary role will include the following duties; • Work in a transparent manner keeping good records of meetings, decisions and correspondence which can be made publicly accessible as appropriate. • Hold the Police Race Action Plan board (“the PRAP”) to account for performance by monitoring and scrutinising the actions taken to implement the Action Plan. • Have the authority to engage with internal and external stakeholders who could provide support and advice to shape and deliver the Plan. This will include external organisations and those leading in relevant fields, as well as staff networks and associations. • Establish, with the PRAP, a baseline from which PRAP progress can be measured. The ISOB will therefore receive and be able to request data and information through the Action Plan’s central team. • Offer advice and guidance to the PRAP on the Action Plan and where appropriate to Forces and NPCC Coordination Committees in order to help shape their activity. • Use an independent voice to communicate and report on progress against the Action Plan. We’re looking for someone who has a passion for championing and advocating on issues of inclusion and race, with an ability to think strategically and to challenge constructively, analyse detailed information and exercise independent, evidence-based judgement across a broad spectrum of policy and strategic equality issues, and be able to work in a team with others from varied backgrounds, with a capacity to devote the time and effort required to effectively discharge the duties of this role. The successful applicant will be motivated by public service and a desire to bring about genuine, positive change and possess an empathetic and respectful communication approach to understanding the context, culture and history reflected in individual and community perspectives. The closing date for enquiries and receipt of completed applications is Sunday 10 August 2025. For further details and to apply, please visit the Thames Valley Police recruitment website. https://www.thamesvalley-pcc.gov.uk/get-involved/vacancies/ -
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State Department to trial programme requiring certain visitors to pay holding bond to enter country Tourists and people visiting the US for business could have to pay up to $15,000 to enter the country under new proposals put forward by Donald Trump’s government. The State Department announced it its launching a 12-month pilot programme under which people from countries deemed to have high overstay rates and deficient internal document security controls could be required to post bonds when applying for a visa. The price range of the bonds will vary between $5,000 (£3,700), $10,000 (£7,500) or $15,000 (£11,300). A preview of the bond notice, posted on the federal register website on Monday, said the pilot program would take effect within 15 days of its formal publication. The department said it would be necessary to ensure that the US government is not financially liable if a visitor does not comply with the terms of his or her visa. “Aliens applying for visas as temporary visitors for business or pleasure and who are nationals of countries identified by the department as having high visa overstay rates, where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient, or offering citizenship by investment, if the alien obtained citizenship with no residency requirement, may be subject to the pilot program,” the notice said. The countries affected will be listed once the program takes effect, it said. The bond could be waived depending on an applicant’s individual circumstances. The bond would not apply to citizens of countries enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program, which enables travel for business or tourism for up to 90 days. The majority of the 42 countries enrolled in the program are in Europe, with others in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Visa bonds have been proposed in the past but have never been implemented. The State Department has traditionally discouraged the requirement because of the cumbersome process of posting and discharging a bond. The Trump administration is tightening requirements for visa applicants. Last week, the State Department announced that some visa renewal applicants would have to undergo an additional in-person interview, something that was not previously required. In addition, the department is proposing that applicants for the Visa Diversity Lottery program have valid passports from their country of citizenship. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/08/04/tourists-pay-money-enter-us-how-much/ -
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Far-Right activist allegedly assaulted a man at St Pancras station in London last week before flying to Tenerife Tommy Robinson was able to leave the UK despite being “wanted” because of a border security loophole, it has emerged. The far-Right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, allegedly assaulted a man at St Pancras station in London last week. Viral footage circulating online depicted the apparent victim lying unresponsive on the floor. Following the incident, the British Transport Police (BTP) said they were making “arrest inquiries” before later saying a suspect wanted for questioning in connection with the alleged attack had boarded a flight and was no longer in the UK. Robinson, 42, caught a flight from London Stansted to the Spanish island of Tenerife despite being flagged as “wanted” by police almost five hours earlier. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/03/tommy-robinson-border-security-loophole-assault-britain/ -
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Of course it's all above board, nothing to do with Trump! See for yourselves below. DerekR Normally, sex offenders like Maxwell are not housed in minimum-security prisons, but she has been moved to one. Days after sitting down with one of the highest-ranking members of the Justice Department, Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred to a less restrictive, minimum-security federal prison camp in Texas, her attorney said. As a convicted sex offender, Maxwell would not normally be eligible for a minimum-security prison. According to a Bureau of Prisons policy, people with a sex offender determination known as a “public safety factor” are required to be housed in at least low-security prisons unless they receive a waiver from an arm of the bureau that designates inmates. Low-security prisons are more restrictive than minimum-security ones. The bureau is a component of the Justice Department, meaning its leadership reports to Attorney General Pam Bondi. A spokesperson for the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Bureau of Prisons also did not respond to a request for comment. Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus said Friday she had been moved to Federal Prison Camp Bryan, a facility for female inmates in Southeast Texas. He declined further comment. It’s unclear why Maxwell might have been moved, but her transfer comes as she and her attorneys have been advocating both for a pardon by the Trump administration and for her conviction to be overturned by the Supreme Court. Maxwell, the onetime girlfriend of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, is serving a 20-year sentence for her 2021 conviction for sex trafficking crimes. Until this week, she had been serving her sentence in Florida, at FCI Tallahassee, a low-security prison. www.politico.com/news/2025/08/01/ghislaine-maxwell-prison-doj-meeting-00488424 -
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Whilst in Wick recently, I walked the length of the shortest Street in the World (see pictures). It is six feet and nine inches long. We were staying in the hotel on the street, the only door there leads into the bistro attached to Mackays Hotel. We were there for a wedding and stayed three nights. I was taken by the breakfasts. There were various options including a full Scottish, but I opted for smoked haddock with a poached egg, sitting in a cream and butter sauce - delicious. We stayed at various hotels and B&B while we were in Scotland, only one was a slight disappointment, the others were excellent including an Indian run hotel with a superb restaurant serving Indian/Scottish fusion food. I arrived back yesterday. Lucky to have got back as we had just boarded our aeroplane, doors shut and awaiting start up, when the captain came on to advise us that the radar had failed in the London area, and we were on a delay of over three hours. She kept us regularly updated and took on more fuel for while we were sitting in Inverness and for possible stacking when arriving at Heathrow as well as delays getting on stand if aeroplanes had not left their stands when expected. In the event, because we were ready to go, when given an earlier nod, she got us airborne very quickly meaning our delay was, luckily, only about 90 minutes. -
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Oh dear Troll, what an idiot you are! The new group, to which you have been denied access twice was not created to ruin Anything! at all. It was designed to give people an alternative loop to belong to. I didn't create the loop, I joined it. I was subsequently asked to co-moderate it, which I agreed to do. So get your facts right! It was created on the understanding that it would not be used to contain political discussion. Therefore, as a member of Anything!, which allows political discussion, I use that loop when I want to say anything related to politics. Always have and always will. I just choose not to discuss anything with you due to your disgusting demeanor towards people. The new loop did however turn out to be very useful to indicate who your mole is. You were a great help - thanks. You gave me the biggest clue as to who she was testing confirmed it. Other users have been surprised at who she is. Because of my moderator status, SL operates differently for blocked members in a moderated loop. I had plenty of time testing through various posts in different loops to establish who it was. Where you constantly go wrong is that, you dream up scenarios, then believe them to be true. They are not! They are your tiny mind working to win arguments that don’t even exist. In fact, you are similar to your idols. Losers with big mouths and tiny, in fact miniscule, minds! -
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Two years ago, Hamas was putting the finishing touches to its plan to attack Israel. In Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed that the Palestinians were a problem to be managed. The real threat, he insisted, was Iran. Netanyahu's rhetoric opposing Hamas was undimmed, but he had also given permission for Qatar to funnel money into Gaza. It gave him space for his real priorities in foreign policy - confronting Iran and finding a way to normalise relations with Saudi Arabia. In Washington, then-President Joe Biden and his administration believed they were close to hatching a deal between the Saudis and Israelis. It was all a series of illusions. Netanyahu has refused to establish an enquiry to look into the mistakes he made alongside his army and security chiefs that gave Hamas its opportunity to attack with such deadly effect on 7 October 2023. More at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp863mln0pmo -
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Donald Trump has overseen nearly as many air strikes in the first five months of his second term as Joe Biden launched in his entire presidency. The US president’s onslaughts on Houthi militants in Yemen and jihadists in Somalia have been more ferocious than Mr Biden’s, and he has ordered strikes on Iraq, Syria and most recently, Iran. After campaigning on a pledge to end American involvement in military conflicts, he has sharply escalated the country’s air campaigns, according to the data from Acled (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data), which maps conflicts. Mr Trump has overseen 529 air strikes since his inauguration, compared with 555 over the entire four years of the previous administration. Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia were already being targeted by the previous administration, but Mr Trump opened up a new front with strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme. “The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints,” said Prof Clionadh Raleigh, chief executive of Acled, highlighting the intensity of the bombing campaigns. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/16/trump-airstrike-tally-matches-biden-four-year-total/ -
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Donald Trump will not be given the honour of addressing Parliament during his state visit as Emmanuel Macron did this week, The Telegraph understands. The date of the US president’s trip is being deliberately timed for mid-September, when there is a parliamentary recess, handing the UK an excuse for not offering the speech. Mr Trump is also not expected to visit Buckingham Palace, which is being restored, or enjoy a ceremonial carriage ride down the Mall in London – features of many past state visits from world leaders. Mr Macron did not visit the palace. There had been concerns that Labour MPs could protest against a joint address to Parliament, possibly by staying away en masse, causing potential embarrassment to Mr Trump. It means he will not achieve something enjoyed by his predecessors Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The lack of an address to Parliament risks a backlash from the US president, who British officials privately acknowledge is sensitive to perceived slights. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/07/11/trump-denied-address-parliament-uk-state-visit/ -
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