Claims related to seven-year period are detailed in Times and Channel 4 investigation after actor had already denied allegations
Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse over a seven-year period at the height of his fame.
The allegations between 2006 and 2013 were the result of a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches. Brand denies the allegations.
Continue reading...Former DPP Starmer tried to send head of News UK Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking 10 years ago
Ten years ago Keir Starmer attempted to send Rebekah Brooks to prison for phone hacking.
Now Starmer could cause another headache for the boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British media empire. She has to work out how her Tory-backing newspapers – which include the Sun and the Times – handle the growing popularity of the man who is favourite to become the next prime minister.
Continue reading...Report had claimed Boris Johnson tried to hire his now wife as chief of staff when foreign secretary, but then it was deleted
At first glance, the story appeared to be the political scoop of the weekend.
On Saturday, the Times reported claims that Boris Johnson had tried to hire his now wife as his chief of staff when he was foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Analysis: newspapers have attracted record numbers of readers seeking trusted sources in uncertain times
From the pandemic and the war in Ukraine to the Westminster partygate saga, newspapers are benefiting from a financially lucrative news boom. However, is the news industry enjoying a one-off blip in the battle for survival against big tech, or is this proof that publishers have finally forged commercial models fit for the new media age?
In a sign of the shifting fortunes amid unprecedented news events, Rupert Murdoch’s Times and Sunday Times last week reported a doubling of operating profits to their highest level since 1990 and the Sun, a one-time cash cow turned high-profile casualty of the digital age, is within £1m of returning to operating profit for the first time in a decade.
Continue reading...In BBC documentary, Times journalist Valentine Low plays down rumours of briefing war between royal brothers
Allegations that the Duchess of Sussex had “bullied” two members of staff at Kensington Palace were “absolutely not” leaked with Prince William’s tacit approval, according to the journalist who reported them.
The final part of a controversial BBC documentary on the relationship between Prince William, Prince Harry and the media examined allegations of a briefing war between the brothers.
Continue reading...In 1998 Edward Mortimer, who has died aged 77, joined the staff of the UN secretary general Kofi Annan as chief speechwriter and later director of communications. Since the UN’s foundation at the end of the second world war, its leadership had often lacked breadth and depth of vision, with the exception of the eight years under the Swede Dag Hammarskjöld until his death in a plane crash in Africa in 1961.
Like him, Annan, who was from Ghana, believed that the UN represented more than the sum of its member states, and could act as a prime mover in undertaking initiatives. Now, once more, the words of the secretary general mattered, moved, provoked and were remembered, and Mortimer had a key role in making that happen.
Continue reading...Martin Buckley, Carl Gardner, Margaret Vandecasteele and Pete Bibby on the death of the Duke of Edinburgh and media coverage of it
“Inevitably he will be remembered for the gaffes,” BBC TV told me on Friday. I interviewed the Duke of Edinburgh for the BBC over 20 years ago for a documentary presented by George Monbiot. The duke (whom we were talking to as president of the WWF) was informal and funny, and his intelligence shone through; he had a manifest love of nature and a terrifically detailed grasp of his environmental brief. The gaffes are a tired trope, endlessly headlined by our alternately sycophantic and feral media. Yes, the duke was impatient with the constraints he was permanently under, and yes, he occasional showed archaic attitudes. But at this time, it would be nice to acknowledge his positive qualities.
Martin Buckley
Farringdon, Hampshire
• I and many of your readers, I’m sure, would like to complain about the 13 pages on Prince Philip in Saturday’s Guardian (10 April). I would be interested to know what percentage of your readers read any of it. After all, by Saturday morning we all knew everything we wanted to know about him, and more, due to almost a full day’s blanket coverage on radio and TV. I expected better than a repeat performance across your pages.
Carl Gardner
London