Starmer met Thorne, and some of the shows other creators, in Downing Street this week, along with charities engaged in child protection, and the PM said he would like as many pupils as possible to watch the series.
The four-part drama is about a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a girl at his school. The Guardian’s reviewer described it as “the most devastating and immaculately scripted and played series I have ever seen – as close to televisual perfection as you can get”.
In an interview with GB News, asked if she has seen it, Badenoch replied:
Well, I think Adolescence is a fictional story. It’s based on a real story, but my understanding is that the boy who committed that crime was not white.
So, people can do whatever they like in fiction. The prime minister should not be building policy on fiction. He should be building policy on reality. What is the reality? Phones are disrupting schools and not enough schools have effective bans.
Badenoch went on to talk about the Tory policy to ban mobile phones in schools. In an earlier LBC interview this morning she said that she had not actually watched the programme, because “I don’t have time to watch anything these days, to be honest.”
Speaking to LBC, Badenoch also stated her belief that Adolescence was based on a true story. She said:
The story which it is based on has been fundamentally changed and so creating policy on a work of fiction rather than on reality is the real issue.
But, in an interview last week on the News Agents podcast, Thorne said there was no truth in the claim that he had adapted a real story involving a black boy. He said:
They’ve claimed that Stephen [Graham] and I based it on a story and so they’re saying that we race swapped it, because we were basically here and then ended up there, and everything else, and nothing is further from the truth.
I have told a lot of real-life stories in my time. I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real-life story, and you put it on screen, and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.
Asked about critics who complained about the main character being white, Thorne said:
It’s absurd to say that this is only committed by black boys, it’s absurd, it’s not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.
We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another. We’re saying this is about boys.
The claim that Adolescence was based on a real story involving a black boy has been circulated on social media, including by people claiming that the colour of the main character was changed to conform with an anti-white agenda.
Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent rightwing commentator on X, floated this argument last month in a post that has attracted 4.8m views saying:
Netflix has a show called Adolescence that’s about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus and it’s based on real life cases such as the Southport murderer.
So guess what. They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement.
Just the absolute state of anti-white propaganda.
This attracted a comment from Elon Musk, the X owner, billionaire Trump ally and far-right provocateur, saying: “Wow.”
Badenoch has been accused, including by Keir Starmer at PMQs, of spending too much time reading social media.
24,000 migrants have been removed from the UK since Labour took office. This included the four biggest return flights ever, he said.
If you are a Labour activists, you can now buy leaflets from party HQ making the same point.
The Green party says it is horrified. Carla Denyer, the Green’s co-leader, said:
Labour’s recent leaflet boasting about deporting more people than the Tories is sickening.
Labour are failing to provide safe and legal routes into the UK while seemingly revelling in turning people’s lives upside down.
Any claim the Labour party may have once had to be a party of compassion or principle has well and truly gone.
The controversy is reminiscent of what happened in 2015, when the party produced official mugs with the slogan “Controls on immigration”. This was one of the party’s five election pledges, and so it was understandable that the party wanted to publicise it. But the mugs were very unpopular with some Labour activists who felt they sounded rightwing.
Chagos Islands to Mauritius is being “finalised” after winning approval from Donald Trump’s US, Downing Street has said. PA Media says:
The plan will see the UK give up sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory but pay to lease back the strategically important Diego Garcia military base, which is used by the US.
Discussions are ongoing between the UK and the Mauritian government over the terms of the deal.
“The finalisation of the deal is ongoing,” the PM’s spokesperson said.
US President Trump indicated his backing for the deal during Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington in February, saying: “I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well”.
The PM’s spokesperson said: “You will have seen from the president that he recognised the strength of the deal.
“I think we are now working with the Mauritian government to finalise the deal and sign the treaty.
“My understanding is it’s now between us and the Mauritian government to finalise the deal, following the discussions with the US.”
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: “Labour should have the courage to come to the House of Commons and face scrutiny over their deal to surrender the Chagos Islands and pay for the privilege.
“This remains a very bad deal for British taxpayers – and we now know money is going to be frontloaded to Mauritius, at a time when Labour is stripping vulnerable pensioners of their winter fuel payments and whacking family farms and businesses with punishing taxes.”
praised by Keir Starmer for the way it has opened up a debate about the radicalisation of young men.
Starmer met Thorne, and some of the shows other creators, in Downing Street this week, along with charities engaged in child protection, and the PM said he would like as many pupils as possible to watch the series.
The four-part drama is about a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a girl at his school. The Guardian’s reviewer described it as “the most devastating and immaculately scripted and played series I have ever seen – as close to televisual perfection as you can get”.
In an interview with GB News, asked if she has seen it, Badenoch replied:
Well, I think Adolescence is a fictional story. It’s based on a real story, but my understanding is that the boy who committed that crime was not white.
So, people can do whatever they like in fiction. The prime minister should not be building policy on fiction. He should be building policy on reality. What is the reality? Phones are disrupting schools and not enough schools have effective bans.
Badenoch went on to talk about the Tory policy to ban mobile phones in schools. In an earlier LBC interview this morning she said that she had not actually watched the programme, because “I don’t have time to watch anything these days, to be honest.”
Speaking to LBC, Badenoch also stated her belief that Adolescence was based on a true story. She said:
The story which it is based on has been fundamentally changed and so creating policy on a work of fiction rather than on reality is the real issue.
But, in an interview last week on the News Agents podcast, Thorne said there was no truth in the claim that he had adapted a real story involving a black boy. He said:
They’ve claimed that Stephen [Graham] and I based it on a story and so they’re saying that we race swapped it, because we were basically here and then ended up there, and everything else, and nothing is further from the truth.
I have told a lot of real-life stories in my time. I know the harm that can come when you take elements of a real-life story, and you put it on screen, and the people aren’t expecting it. There is no part of this that’s based on a true story, not one single part.
Asked about critics who complained about the main character being white, Thorne said:
It’s absurd to say that this is only committed by black boys, it’s absurd, it’s not true. And history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.
We’re not making a point about race with this. We are making a point about masculinity. We’re trying to get inside a problem. We’re not saying this is one thing or another. We’re saying this is about boys.
The claim that Adolescence was based on a real story involving a black boy has been circulated on social media, including by people claiming that the colour of the main character was changed to conform with an anti-white agenda.
Ian Miles Cheong, a prominent rightwing commentator on X, floated this argument last month in a post that has attracted 4.8m views saying:
Netflix has a show called Adolescence that’s about a British knife killer who stabbed a girl to death on a bus and it’s based on real life cases such as the Southport murderer.
So guess what. They race swapped the actual killer from a black man/migrant to a white boy and the story has it so he was radicalized online by the red pill movement.
Just the absolute state of anti-white propaganda.
This attracted a comment from Elon Musk, the X owner, billionaire Trump ally and far-right provocateur, saying: “Wow.”
Badenoch has been accused, including by Keir Starmer at PMQs, of spending too much time reading social media.
China’s application to build a new super embassy in China.
Jarvis says national security has been the core priority for the government in dealing with the embassy application. But he says there is a limit to what he can say because the final decision will be taken by Angela Rayner, as housing secretary, in a quasi-judicial capacity.
China.
Countries will be considered separately, he says.
He says he won’t speculate on what countries may or may not be included in the Firs (foreign influence registration scheme) enhanced tier in future.
On China, the government’s policy is to “coperate where we can, compete where we need to, and challenge where we must”.
Russia.
But he says Jarvis ignored “the elephant in the room”, China. Why was he silent?
Philp goes on:
We know China engages in industrial scale espionage, seeking to steal technology from government, universities and from industry.
They repress Chinese citizens here, and have sought to infiltrate our political system. In 2022 it was exposed by MI5 that China sought to infiltrate this very parliament via their agent, Christine Lee.
China has set up undeclared and illegal police stations in the UK and in December China placed a bounty on the head of three Hong Kong dissidents living in the UK.
He says MI5 and the FBI have both warned about the “epic threat” posed by China.
foreign influence registration scheme, an initiative to allow the government to monitor people lobbying on behalf of foreign governments in the UK. It is part of the National Security Act 2023.
Jarvis says it will go live in July.
The scheme imposes routine requirements for people lobbying on behalf of foreign governments, but it also has an enhanced tier, covering hostile countries, where the rules are much tighter. If a country is in this tier, anyone carrying out activity in the UK on behalf of the country, or an entity linked to it, will have to register. Failure to comply will be an offence.
The government has already said that Iran will be in the enhanced tier.
Today Jarvis says Russia will also be in the enhanced tier.
The Green party has also criticised the government’s decision to introduce the sentencing guidelines (pre-sentence reports) bill. In a statement, the Green MP Siân Berry said:
It has been chilling to witness the government pile pressure on an independent body which has been nothing but clear about the importance of these guidelines for passing effective sentences.
The new guidelines, which were publicly consulted on, would have helped create safer sentencing for many women, parents, pregnant and young people, for whom extreme custodial sentences can compound the harm that led to their offending in the first place. This delay will condemn too many people to unjust punishment while we wait for new plans.
Pre-sentencing reports offer judges information, they do not determine sentences. Politicians’ wilful misunderstanding of these processes is dangerous and will cause irrevocable harm for many if this bill is passed.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome said she was alarmed by the implication that, if the Sentencing Council guidelines are withdrawn, judges would not be advised to get pre-sentence reports before sentencing pregnant women.
Mahmood said the bill would not affect policy relating to pregnant offenders, because there is already court of appeal precedent saying pre-sentence reports should be obtained before pregnant women are sentenced.
Labour MP and a former shadow home secretary, told Mahmood she did not know why she was so “triumphant” about introducing legislation to interfer with the independence of the Sentencing Council. She said there have been many reports saying black and brown people are treated unfairly by the courts, and she said the judiciary was independent for a good reason.
There is a reason why the Sentencing Council is independent. It was made a statutory independent body to avoid even the appearance of ministerial interfering in sentencing. This is not the United States. Our political system, our judicial system, are entirely separate.
2.10pm.) She said, unlike like Jenrick, she did not want to “make it personal”.12.23pm), the PM’s spokesperson ruled out cancelling President Trump’s state visit to the UK as retaliation for his tariffs. The spokesperson claimed the two issues were not linked. He said:
I wouldn’t draw any any link between the two. Obviously, the state visit is a matter for the Palace, as you know.
You’ll have seen that the prime minister was delighted to extend His Majesty the king’s invitation for a historic state visit during his visit to to the White House.
But when it comes to these talks, we’ll obviously continue to have these conversations. We’ll obviously continue them in the national interest, and we’ll obviously provide an update as and when we have one.
In the past Keir Starmer has also claimed that the state visit is a matter for the king, not the government. While technically true in a very narrow sense (the king issues the actual invitation), this argument is thoroughly bogus, because the king only issue a state visit invitation on the advice of Downing Street. It was Starmer’s decision, not King Charles’s.
In an interview with Times Radio, Lord Darroch, a former UK ambassador to Washington, said he was sceptical about claims that the government is close to signing a trade deal with the US.
In an interview recorded before the Downing Street lobby briefing where No 10 said Keir Starmer told cabinet that talks were at an “advanced stage”, Darroch was asked how he responded to claims that an agreement was close. He replied:
The honest answer is quite cynical, because at various points when I was in government, we were negotiating, trying to negotiate a free trade deal. The EU also tried to do a US-EU free trade deal when we were in the EU. So I’ve seen this picture play several times.
And the truth of it is that the Americans, whoever is in government, always, they try and strike a very tough deal on trade.
Darroch also said that the government should be wary of giving President Trump concessions to get exemptions from his tariffs. He explained:
I just think you need to be careful about, as it were, giving the Trump administration, giving the president a win on all of this, because he already thinks tariffs are a great idea. And if he starts getting concessions offered by the rest of the world, to keep them away, he’ll keep using them.
And every time there is some grievance or some dispute in relations, he’ll come back and threaten tariffs or impose them and then say, do what I want you to do to get them lifted.
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, told MPs that the government would “prepare for the worst” over US tariffs. Speaking during Foreign Office questions, he said:
We are an open-trading nation. We have been that under successive governments. It’s hugely important at this time that we continue the intense conversations we’re having with the US administration on getting an economic agreement but of course we prepare for the worst – all options remain on the table, as the prime minister indicated again just yesterday.
For the record, here is the extract from the Downing Street readout from cabinet this morning, saying what Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Jonathan Reynolds told colleagues about the impending US tariffs. Starmer said talks with the US on an economic deal were at an “advanced stage”.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister then turned to US tariffs and trade. He set out the latest position to cabinet on the announced US plans on steel, aluminium, and automotive tariffs, with further details of ‘reciprocal’ global tariffs expected this week. He said the UK’s approach is to progress ongoing talks with the US on an economic deal, which are at an advanced stage, while keeping all options on the table.
He said a calm and pragmatic approach best served UK national interests, not a knee-jerk reaction. The UK has a balanced trading relationship with the US, supporting millions of jobs both sides of the Atlantic, as well as a deeply important security and defence relationship.
He said nobody wants to see global tariffs, but the UK would continue negotiations, continue engaging with British industries, prepare for all scenarios, and double down on delivering a modern industrial strategy that supports jobs and grows the economy.
The chancellor said that global tariffs will have an impact on the UK as an open trading economy, that securing a deal could mitigate some of those effects, and updated on discussions she had with the US Treasury yesterday.
The business secretary updated on the progress of his discussions in recent days and weeks, and said that the UK was well placed to agree an economic deal with the US and that those talks would continue beyond tomorrow’s announcement. He underlined that the business community wants to see the government take a calm, cool-headed, and pragmatic approach to discussions with the US, and that would guide our approach.
Source: theguardian.com
