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This week, the Senate Finance Committee took up hearings on mergers, takeovers, leveraged buyouts, corporate debt and other assorted sins often blamed on Wall Street.

Next week, the powerful House Ways and Means Committee follows suit, and at least seven other committees seem to be gearing up.

While it brings back memories of past inquisitions of investment bankers, by comparison this show is headed for an unspectacular run.

Only two previous congressional investigations stand out in American history for their far-ranging impact on the behavior of Wall Street and on public opinion. In 1912, Sen. Arsene P. Pujo of Louisiana turned a prolonged spotlight on alleged conspiracies among New York-based financiers to create and control big “money trusts” like U.S. Steel.

Despite its effective muckraking antics, the Pujo committee’s work did not in itself lead to new laws. But sweeping new banking legislation, including the establishment of the Federal Reserve System, followed soon after.

In 1933 the Senate Banking and Currency Committee launched the Pecora hearings–named not for a senator but for Ferdinand Pecora, the legal counsel–which put investment bankers on trial for fraud and other abuses during the booming 1920s. Pecora’s efforts led to milestone legislation that separated commercial lending from investment banking, created new rules for the securities business and set up the Securities and Exchange Commission.

There are, however, great differences between Congress’ past efforts and what will happen now.

Unlike today’s situation, the hearings of 1912 and 1933 were heavily driven by nonelected, firebrand prosecutors with independent political agendas. Pujo had Samuel Untermeyer, one of the country’s top trial lawyers who became wealthy creating mergers and then sought political fortune by tearing them apart. Pecora, a New Deal Democrat, had been a prominent Bull Moose Progressive in New York.

In the Pujo and Pecora eras, the balance of power between Washington and Wall Street was moving toward Pennsylvania Avenue. While in the early 1900s the House of Morgan and a few others single-handedly controlled American finance, by the second decade the government was wising up. Again in the 1920s private markets were running wild, but the Great Crash of ’29 ended all that.

In the late 1980s, however, the markets rule again. A deregulated, global financial casino that sees $200 billion of foreign currency speculation each day has the upper hand over governments. Congress recognizes this and is paranoid about setting off Wall Street’s hair trigger.

In the past, Congress could push for broad policy changes because financial regulations were so primitive. Pujo, for example, had no real authority to compel officials of Kidder, Peabody and other firms to disclose their business records. Before Pecora there were hardly any federal constraints on investment banking.

But today Washington maintains the world’s most elaborate regulatory regime, and hardly anyone advocates wholesale reform. Some measures, such as tax changes, may be required to reduce the attractiveness of financing deals with so much debt. But this will have to be done with great delicacy and, in any event, it is not technically a securities issue.

A common refrain for Pujo and Pecora was the evil of concentration and monopoly on Wall Street. It has always been good populist politics to wail about lack of competition among the investment banks and about the dominance of financiers over the industrial corporations that make goods and create jobs.

But these days the Merrill Lynches, the Shearsons and the Salomons compete ferociously. And few would challenge the need for size and concentration to compete with the Nomuras or the Deutschebanks.

As for whether Wall Street has the nation’s corporate titans on a leash, who can really say, when the management of so many companies and their investment bankers team up to take over someone else–or, as in the case of R.J.R. Nabisco, when they collaborate to buy management’s very own company from its public shareholders?

During past congressional hearings, the executive branch has not been a wallflower. Pujo could ride on the waves of Teddy Roosevelt’s trust busting and Woodrow Wilson’s crusading idealism. Pecora had Franklin D. Roosevelt and New Deal government activism. While President Bush has been making kinder and gentler noises about reexamining the LBO scene, its hard to envision dramatic departures. Its not just that Bush & Co. are moderates. But in today’s greed-glorifying culture, there is little push from outside the Washington Beltway to clobber the money men.

Finally, Pujo and especially Pecora were reacting to financial debacles, in one case the recurrent turn-of-the-century financial panics and, in the other, the Crash of ’29. With October of ’87 but a footnote in history, and with the Justice Department moving enthusiastically to lock up insider traders, there is today no real lightning rod for outrage.

Merger and LBO mania may be leading to severe problems, to be sure, especially if a recession hits and topples all those debt-laden firms. But Congress has never distinguished itself by locking the barn door early. That didn’t happen in Pujo’s or Pecora’s time, and who would bet that it will do so in ours?

The Big Night of Musicals Christmas special aired on BBC One on Saturday night (December 27) with viewers spotting a vital detail

Big Night of Musicals viewers were left scratching their heads after spotting a glaring detail during the festive BBC programme.

On Saturday night (December 27), Jason Manford presented what was billed as the Christmas compilation of this year’s finest stage musicals.

The show featured performances from the casts of Matilda, Mary Poppins, and Wicked, alongside numbers from cherished films such as Back to the Future, and tributes to music legends like Tina Turner.

However, within minutes of the broadcast beginning, sharp-eyed fans noticed a dead giveaway that this wasn’t actually a fresh compilation but rather a repeat.

Flocking to X – previously Twitter – numerous viewers highlighted that several audience members could be seen wearing face masks throughout the performances, reports the Express.

It wasn’t long before astute watchers realised this television round-up contained footage filmed during the coronavirus pandemic.

One viewer wrote: “When was the Tina Turner bit filmed if people are in masks?” whilst another questioned: “Erm… I’ve seen this exact performance before? ? ? Is this a repeat?”

A third viewer confirmed their suspicions, stating: “YUP… This entire this was a repeat.”

Nevertheless, despite the programme being a rerun from a previous year, many fans still relished the musical spectacular and flocked to social media to heap praise upon it.

One enthusiastic viewer wrote: “Loving Big Night of Musicals with @JasonManford, great that the schools and colleges have been shown too, not just established productions. I’m looking forward to next month even more now [musical notes emoji].”

Another fan concurred: “Really enjoying watching #BigNightOfMusicals on @BBCOne with @JasonManford,” while a third chimed in: “That was brilliant @JasonManford [green heart emoji]. Only problem is now I want to book to see Wicked, Matilda, and Mary Poppins again [crying emoji, laughing emoji].”

The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals is gearing up for its fifth dazzling instalment next month, featuring showstopping performances from West End smashes including Wicked, Miss Saigon, Jesus Christ Superstar and many more.

The show will once again be hosted by Jason Manford and will take place at Manchester’s AO Arena on 26 January 2026. Speaking about the upcoming extravaganza, Manford enthused: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be hosting The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals for the fifth year running.

“The 2026 line-up is phenomenal; some of the biggest shows in the world are coming together for one night only, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience it. This event is also a huge thank you to National Lottery players whose support keeps theatre alive and accessible.

“Without their contributions, so many productions, training programmes, and venue restorations simply wouldn’t be possible.”

For those unable to attend the event, the fifth instalment will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in Spring 2026.

Big Night of Musicals is available on BBC iPlayer

A ping-pong ball at top speed travels over 70 miles an hour — so fast it could zip across Manhattan in less than two minutes. Director Josh Safdie’s hyperactive, head-spinning “Marty Supreme” keeps pace. Set in 1952 New York, this deranged caper races after a money-grubbing table tennis hustler (he prefers “professional athlete”) named Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) who argues like he plays, swatting away protests and annoying his adversaries to exhaustion.

Hounding his shoe-store co-worker to give him $700 from the safe, Marty hammers the poor sap with every trick he’s got — emotional pressure, physical violence, bribery, humiliation, revenge — until he hits one that wins. The high-strung kid is pure nerve and he looks like one, too; he’s the embodiment of a twitch. But with a paddle in his hands, Marty turns into Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain.” He could win a match swinging an umbrella.

The character’s inspiration is Marty Reisman, one of the so-called “bad boys of ping-pong,” according to a U.S. Table Tennis Assn. official in 1972, explaining why the rascal wasn’t invited to the USA versus China exhibition games referred to as “ping-pong diplomacy.” You may remember those matches from “Forrest Gump,” but Tom Hanks’ guileless sweetheart would never use the sport to smuggle gold bars out of Hong Kong, as the real Reisman once did.

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Reisman’s exploits, immortalized in his 1974 memoir “The Money Player,” are too outrageous to squeeze into one film, even for a chaos-feeding filmmaker such as Safdie, going solo after co-directing “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems” with his brother Benny. (A trilogy, maybe.) Reisman’s biography opened with him fleeing French-occupied Hanoi, Vietnam, the day before it fell to the Viet Minh and detoured to a meeting with the Pope in Rome before drunkenly landing a plane in Brazil. The book was optioned shortly after publication. He felt it should star Robert De Niro.

That movie never happened and Reisman died in 2012 at the age of 82, still insisting he deserved to bask in the spotlight. He’d be happy to see Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” which time-travels audiences back seven decades to when American table tennis players were certain bright days were ahead.

As an athlete, Chalamet seems to have lost muscle for the role. Yet as funny as it is to see a guy this scrawny carry himself like Hercules, he leaps and strikes with conviction. His Marty yearns for prestige. Safdie even concocts a subplot in which he invents his signature orange ball solely so he can wear all-white like the posh jocks of Wimbledon. He starts the film desperate to fly to a tournament in London, in part to escape the walk-up apartment where he’s always squabbling with his mother (Fran Drescher) and uncle (Larry “Ratso” Sloman) and a nosy neighbor (Sandra Bernhard). Perilously, Marty’s secret lover (a simmering Odessa A’zion) lives with her jealous husband (Emory Cohen) in an apartment one floor below.

Marty and A’zion’s Rachel belong together, if only to quarantine their equally manipulative genes from the general population. Before the opening credits, the couple improvises a lie to get some privacy to mate. Cinematographer Darius Khondji sends the camera inside her body to see Marty’s most aggressive sperm wriggle to the finish line. Rachel’s egg becomes the moon; the moon becomes a ping-pong ball. Game on.

From this scene forward, Marty will dash around the city and the globe, chasing his dreams and out-running his parental responsibilities. Along the way, he trips over a gun-toting gangster named Ezra (Abel Ferrara), a faded movie star, Kay (Gwyneth Paltrow, sullen and aloof), and her callous husband Milton (“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary), the chief executive of a pen corporation who thinks Marty can make him a mint in ping-pong-crazed Asia. O’Leary, a first-time actor, easily embodies the face of capitalism.

Flaunting that he can turn anyone into an actor, Safdie crowds his New York with bit parts played by big personalities: magician Penn Jillette, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, basketball player George “The Iceman” Gervin, highwire artist Philippe Petit, playwright David Mamet, journalist Naomi Fry and grocery tycoon John Catsimatidis. The musician Tyler Okonma, better known as the Tyler, the Creator, is great in his feature film acting debut as Willy, Marty’s gambling wingman. He was previously seen onscreen getting electrocuted by a piano in “Jackass Forever.” Okonma brings that same energy here and it’s perfect.

Marty’s main foe — and personality opposite — is a Japanese player named Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi) who lost his hearing in the Tokyo airstrikes that happened seven years before and uses a deadly quiet foam-backed paddle. Marty’s friendliest rival, Béla (Géza Röhrig), survived Auschwitz, and in a jaw-dropper of a scene, shares a story of endurance that actually happened to the Polish player Alex Ehrlich. Imprisoned in the camps shortly after winning silver at the World Championships in 1939, Ehrlich was renowned for a record-breaking competitive volley that lasted over two hours, a back-and-forth so relentless that the referee quit with a sore neck. The rhythm of it could be a metronome for this movie’s plot — it whips us around to the point of delighted collapse.

The soundtrack is an unexpected backbeat of synth hits by Tears for Fears and New Order that bleeds into a Tangerine Dream-esque score by Daniel Lopatin — a startling choice for an era where people act like World War II happened yesterday. But to our modern ears, the music has its own vintage: It’s the sound of the greed-is-good 1980s, when movies rooted for ruthless strivers such as “Risky Business’” Tom Cruise, who opened a brothel in his parents’ bedroom.

Safdie’s script, co-written by Ronald Bronstein, is even structured like an ’80s movie that builds up to the big showdown, be it a ski race, a car-washing competition or a frat house decathlon à la “Revenge of the Nerds.” The catch is that Marty — not Endo — may be the bully who deserves to lose. How loudly are we willing to cheer for a callow guy who thinks of WWII as an opportunity for trash talk, boasting he’ll “drop a third bomb” on Endo’s fans? (In fairness, Tokyo promotes their rematch with a poster of Marty that looks uncomfortably close to antisemitic Nazi propaganda, a pointed choice by Safdie and the production designer Jack Fisk.)

Marty is convinced he’s a self-made success who doesn’t need anyone’s help; the people we see him squeeze and squash would disagree. He’s similar to Adam Sandler’s rapacious jeweler in “Uncut Gems,” except that scoundrel contained his damage to the Diamond District and people as shady as him. Safdie sends Marty out to bedevil the world, shipping him to Paris where he gets snippy with a maître d’ who doesn’t speak English and then to Cairo where he steals a chunk of the Great Pyramids.

Listening to a Japanese newsreel describe him as a villain referred to only as “the American,” you realize that “Marty Supreme” is more than a caricature of Reisman. It’s a biography of our national ego, with Marty brashly lecturing the British head of the International Table Tennis Assn. that a champion from the United States would boost the sport’s global reputation. After the commissioner makes this conceited Yank grovel, Marty simply replies: “It’s every man for himself where I come from.”

Like Marty, Chalamet was raised in New York City, and since he arrived on the scene, there’s never been a doubt he’ll win an Oscar. The only question is, when? To Chalamet’s credit, he’s doing it the hard way, avoiding sentimental pictures for pricklier roles about his own naked ambitions. For “A Complete Unknown,” he taught himself to play guitar like Bob Dylan while revealing that the bard was a rat, and in the even-better “Dune: Part Two,” played a naif radicalized into a galaxy-destroying messiah.

Here, Chalamet again fuses his personal drive into his performance, claiming that he spent seven years training to play ping-pong like Reisman, and unlike Tom Hanks in “Gump,” he’s doing his own stunts. Voters seem content to let the young talent dangle, trusting that he’ll continue flogging himself to make more great pictures like this.

The movie’s moxie makes it impossible not to get caught up in Marty’s crusade. We’re giddy even when he’s miserable. Performing with the Harlem Globetrotters in some of the most war-scarred, joy-desperate corners of the planet, his own shame prevents him from appreciating how much he’s entertaining the crowd. When you weigh his selfish desires against any other character’s needs, Marty is as hollow as a ping-pong ball. It really is all about his balls. Their embossing reads: “Marty Supreme — Made in America.”

ADAM Peaty’s mum has U-turned on her decision to gatecrash his wedding to Holly Ramsay.

The Olympian uninvited his mother Caroline Peaty and the rest of his relatives from their big day after a family fallout.

Distraught Caroline had been intent on travelling to the lavish ceremony in Bath tomorrow despite being snubbed.

However, the swimming star’s mum has backed down, with a family member telling The Sun: “She will not be there because it would be too sad and she don’t want to spoil his big day.”

The change of heart comes as Holly Ramsay and her family were spotted leaving their £7.5m mansion to travel to the wedding venue.

Dad-of-one Adam, 30, and Holly, 25, are due to wed at Bath Abbey in Somerset on Saturday, December 27.

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Caroline had previously insisted: “I will be there and I will watch from the street.”

But she changed her mind after her devoted husband Mark made her see sense, telling her it would be “too upsetting’ to be there.”

Around 200 people are set to attend Adam’s wedding including Holly’s chef dad Gordon and their close friends David and Victoria Beckham.

But there won’t be any surprises from unwanted guests.

Sources say the couple have booked Bath Abbey “all-day” and tourists will also be stopped from entering the landmark.

A security team is also set to patrol to stop people trying to take pictures of the couple.

Waymo hopes to have its driverless taxis on the streets of London full-time in the very near future. During December trials, Waymo shared an image on social media showing one of its self-driving Jaguar I-Pace cars crossing the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing

Driverless cars are often seen in big Hollywood sci-fi productions. And when they do, it’s to portray dystopian fantasies. But it seems the future is almost here. Plans are taking shape to make them an everyday reality on London’s roads.

England’s capital has been picked by American robotaxi operator Waymo as the first European city to operate its driverless cabs, a decision that has caused a lot of chatter and a fair amount of concern. The company hopes to gain permission from Transport for London to start autonomous rides next year, it has been reported, while Uber also has its eyes on running a similar UK service in the future.

At the beginning of December tests were carried out on London’s streets. Waymo shared an image on social media showing one of its self-driving Jaguar I-Pace cars crossing the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing.

Many will likely be wondering how the service works. Some may be a little unnerved at the prospect of being a passenger in a vehicle without a human at the helm.

I am something of a veteran of Waymo journeys, having been to San Francisco twice in the last year, alongside a trip to Los Angeles, where the taxis have been commonplace since 2024. I have a little intel on what to expect ahead of your first London trip in a driverless taxi…for those brave enough to give it a try.

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In San Fran, a fleet of around 1,000, rather glam, substantially tech-modified Jaguar I-Pace cars carries passengers around the Bay Area. They launched after a period of heavy testing, during which they were manned by a Waymo technician present inside while they got up to speed.

Fresh from nearby Silicon Valley, all you have to do is fire up an app, order and car, and you’re soon zig-zagging down Lombard Street without having to make small talk with your driver. After you’ve ordered your ride, the Waymo Jag waits in a zone near your location with your initials showing on the car’s rooftop antenna. You can modify the colour scheme of your initials, should you so wish.

Within range, the app on your phone acts as an automatic unlocker for your robotaxi, although you can also press a button to unlock using the app. The same applies for opening the boot. Initially, I wondered whether the latter was off-limits and packed with all kinds of macguffins, making the whole Tomorrow’s World experience possible – but no, it is just an ordinary, sizable space to store luggage.

Inside, tranquil music, akin to the background babble you’d find in a spa treatment room, welcomes riders. It seems designed to put any nervous first-timers at ease. Don’t worry, within a few trips, you’ll have your Spotify hooked up with no driver judgment as you belt out your favourite songs. Travelling from Fisherman’s Wharf to Oracle Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team, I got stuck into lots of 1980s synth.

Of course, the whole set-up is surreal. At times, it looks a bit like the car has been taken over by Captain Scarlet’s invisible baddies, the Mysterons, but it is an environment that you get used to surprisingly quickly. Particularly if you are sitting behind the ‘driver’ seat, as you are really none the wiser that the human is missing. It’s hard to ignore the intrigued pedestrians having a little peek in through the windows when you stop at traffic lights.

Regarding the terms and conditions, passengers must be over 18. All journeys are videoed and a support team is on the other end, available at any point – should you need them. According to Waymo, this is the only time that what is said in the cars can be heard by the support team.

From my experience, Waymo tended to be cheaper than Uber. This may be a low introductory price to get users interested, or just because the firm doesn’t have to pay a person’s wages.

When travelling, seatbelts must be worn like always, while cigarettes, vapes or drugs of any kind are banned. Consuming alcohol as you take to the roads in a passenger seat is also not allowed.

In terms of Waymo’s coming to the UK, given the immaculate interiors of their US equivalents, you do wonder what state you might find them in at the end of Friday and Saturday evenings spent picking up people on nights out. Leftover kebabs and other such booze-related delights may well come into play when the human driver is away.

There will undoubtedly be pushback from the huge number of taxi drivers whose livelihoods will be impacted by the launch. This is no small matter. There’s no denying the way the system – which functions using sensors, mapping, and an in-built computer – is very impressive; it doesn’t mean the road experience is perfect.

During one of my drives, I had to exit my taxi to politely usher a dog out of the way while a seemingly puzzled, stationary Waymo vehicle attempted to make contact with its call center. Although there’s still time to teach a new dog a trick or two before it’s unleashed on the streets of London.

What Waymo says

Regarding any possible cleanliness issues, a Waymo spokesperson said: “Cabin checks are performed at the end of the ride, and if a vehicle is deemed not fit for service, it is sent back to one of our depot facilities for inspection by on-site personnel.”

And, regarding obstacles in the road, like the dog example listed above in the article, Waymo vehicles have a ‘fleet response team’ that provides support. A Waymo spokesperson explained: “Much like phone-a-friend, when the Waymo vehicle encounters a particular situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to a human fleet response agent for additional information to contextualise its environment.

“The Waymo Driver does not rely solely on the inputs it receives from the fleet response agent, and it is in control of the vehicle at all times. As the Waymo Driver waits for input from the fleet response, and even after receiving it, the Waymo Driver continues to use available information to inform its decisions. This is important because, given the dynamic conditions on the road, the environment around the car can change, which either remedies the situation or influences how the Waymo Driver should proceed. In fact, the vast majority of such situations are resolved, without assistance, by the Waymo Driver.”

You can find out more about how the Waymo remote support system works on the company website..

CHRISTMAS and New Year’s sales are starting to emerge and this means you could grab some bargain flights.

EasyJet has already launched its Big Orange Sale with up to 20 percent off flights departing between January 5 and December 13, 2026.

If you grab a bargain today, it could even make the ideal last-minute Christmas gift.

You can book discounted fares for as little as £14.49 from now until February 3, 2026.

Destinations include some of the budget airline’s newest routes, such as Tbilisi in Georgia and the Scandinavian Mountains in Sweden.

Alternatively, if you wanted to head off on a ski trip you could fly to top ski destinations in Europe, such as Grenoble in France, Geneva in Switzerland and Innsbruck in Austria.

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Perhaps cold holidays aren’t your thing? Then why not head off to some winter sun spots including Enfidha in Tunisia, Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt and Marrakech in Morocco.

Specific flights include London Gatwick to Palma, in Majorca, from £18.99.

As the capital of the Balearic Islands, Palma is known for its Gothic Cathedral, historic Old Town and of course, pretty beaches.

Or if you fancy relaxing, head to Palma Beach, which is just a short distance from the city centre and boasts turquoise waters, soft sand and a number of nearby restaurants.

If you live near Bristol, you could head to Bordeaux in France for just £14.49.

Known as the wine capital of France, Bordeaux is home to the UNESCO World Heritage ‘Port of the Moon’ with 18th century architecture.

Across Bordeaux, you will find around 6,000 wineries, producing mostly red wine.

If you happen to live in or near Birmingham, for £17.99 you could head to one of the major fashion capitals of the world – Milan, Italy.

While in the city, Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) is also worth visiting; it has Gothic features and you can climb the roof for panoramic views of the city.

From Manchester you could head to Madrid from £21.49 per person.

The capital of Spain is home to many sites to explore that are ideal for history lovers, such as the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor and Retiro Park.

There are also several museums, such as the Prado Museum – the main Spanish national art museum – and Reina Sofia Museum home to a collection of 20th-century art.

And if you fancy a holiday package, easyJet is also offering up to £400 off of all easyJet holidays.

For this discount to apply you have to spend a minimum of £4,000 though.

Or you could get £300 off of a £3,000 spend, £150 off of a £1,500 spend, £100 off an £800 spend and £50 off a £500 spend with the code ‘BIGSALE’.

You will need to book before 11pm on March 3, 2026, and then travel between now and October 31, 2027.

All easyJet holiday packages include flights and a hotel, with 23kg luggage per person and transfers if booking a beach holiday.

Kevin Doyle, easyJet’s UK country manager, said: “By launching our Big Orange Sale today, customers can take advantage of our great value fares and make plans for a well-deserved break to look forward to in 2026.

“With over 45 new routes from the UK available for next year, customers can choose from flights and package holidays to up to 140 destinations across Europe and beyond, whether that’s to return to their top holiday hotspot, or discover somewhere new.

“We look forward to welcoming millions of customers onboard in 2026 and we remain focused on providing them with low-cost travel, flying them where they want to go, and always aiming to make the travel experience easy.”

In other aviation news, there are six new holiday destinations getting Wizz Air flights – and one is a UK-first.

Plus, seven short-haul destinations perfect for a January holiday with flights from £14.99.

After two turbulent years with Eamonn Holmes at GMTV, Anthea Turner walked away from the show on Christmas Eve 1996 – she still believes his envy of her National Lottery show was the problem

A popular television presenter who worked with Eamonn Holmes says there was almost instant friction when she joined him on an iconic daytime TV show.

Eamonn has been one of the most recognisable stars on British television for decades and has worked with a long line of famous faces, including his ex-wife, Ruth Langsford.

But he hasn’t jelled with every colleague he has ever worked with. According to Anthea Turner, Eamonn took exception to her background when she joined him on the GMTV sofa in 1994.

“Eamonn is a trained journalist and I’m not,” she told The Times. “That caused tension from the start… The other thing was I didn’t have my ass on that sofa for very long before I was asked to present the National Lottery too, and I think that also annoyed him.”

Anthea’s first lottery show appearance attracted a huge TV audience of around 22million. Eamonn reportedly lobbied GMTV bosses to get her sacked, accusing her of being “too ambitious” and giving her the disparaging nickname ‘Princess Tippy Toes.’

She told The Sun: “I was always asked if I was ambitious and, if I said yes, I was made out to be a ruthless person who would walk over anybody to get where I wanted. It would be said that I was hormonal, or I was stamping my feet.’

She added: “And yet ask that question to a man, and if he’s ambitious, we think: ‘What a guy’. You’d never hear anyone say that about Eamonn or Phillip Schofield. No, they’re just doing their job.”

Anthea walked away from the “toxic” situation at GMTV on Christmas Eve 1996. Over a decade later, the former Blue Peter presenter said she was still “hurt” by the way she was perceived.

Speaking on the Miranda Holder Weekly Fashion Podcast, she said: “I haven’t weighed myself down with anything from the past, or any of that negativity.

“Nobody likes injustice, nobody wants to be misrepresented. It hurts, it really hurts.”

In a televised reunion in 2018, Anthea said that she had mixed feelings about Eamonn, saying: “There is a fine line between hate and love isn’t there? We were chatting in the break, Eamonn and I are a bit lazy and it’s easier to stay friends.”

Her remarks sparked a somewhat tense atmosphere in the This Morning studio, with Eamonn’s then-wife Ruth Langsford visibly taking exception to Anthea calling him her “ex.”

Ruth stressed that she and Eamonn were “properly married,” before Anthea interrupted her, saying: “Ah but we were telly husband and wife.”

While Anthea and Eamonn were said to have put an end to their bitter feud with her This Morning appearance, she later said that any talk of a friendship was exaggerated, telling the Express:”I don’t think Eamonn and I speak lots. “Those are just headlines saying that we reunited.”

She added: “Obviously, there was the hullabaloo. In fact, I went to Belfast where he was doing a show, and I remember going up there, it must have been about 15 years ago, and we signed a Good Friday Agreement.”

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new Everything Gossip website.

Christmas was only a few days away and the Finnish capital of Helsinki was ringing with festive cheer as we explored the Tuomaan Markkinat in Senate Square, sipping from mugs of hot, spicy glögi (mulled wine), and biting into joulutorttu (jam-filled puff pastries shaped like catherine wheels). A cold front had brought abundant snow and inhaling was rather painful at -8C, but nothing could still the tremble of excitement.

Along with my husband and two young daughters, I was here to take the Santa Claus Express to the northern city of Rovaniemi, the heart of Finnish Lapland – and the “official” home of Father Christmas. A regular commuter train for the rest of the year, come late November the Santa Claus Express is Finnish Railways’ flagship service, offering the ultimate sleeper-train adventure. As I checked my watch and announced it was finally time to make our way to Helsinki central station, the girls were pink in the cheeks, eyes sparkling from all the surrounding golden lights.

The Visalia Unified School District’s public board meeting in March was a festive and upbeat affair with a performance by a student chamber music group and a commendation for a high school cheer squad.

When the seven-member board went into closed session, the agenda was decidedly grimmer: Six former students were suing the district over sexual abuse they said they suffered decades earlier at the hands of a kindergarten teacher.

Out of public view, the board unanimously approved a $3-million settlement with provisions intended to keep the community in the dark forever.

Under the terms of the agreement, the women, their lawyers and families were prohibited from disclosing any aspect of the deal, including the amount they were paid.

“The Parties agree that they will respond to any inquiries they may receive from any third parties regarding the lawsuit by stating only that ‘the matter has been resolved’ without any further elaboration, discussion or disclosure,” the settlement instructed.

It was Visalia’s fifth secret settlement in the last three years, one of a flurry that districts are quietly approving statewide.

A Times investigation found that California’s public schools, faced with a historic surge of sex abuse lawsuits, are increasingly using nondisclosure agreements and other tactics that celebrities and big corporations rely upon to protect their reputation.

At least 25 districts have resolved suits or other claims in ways that hinder taxpayers from learning about the allegations, the cost of settling them or both, The Times found. These hidden settlements total more than $53 million. Legal experts say that these settlements may be in violation of state law, and that some should be investigated by the state attorney general.

While shielding the names and identifying details of sex abuse victims is widely accepted, courts have repeatedly said the public has a right to know allegations leveled against government employees and the money spent to compensate accusers.

Lawmakers in California have also largely banned the use of confidentiality provisions for settlements involving sexual assault and harassment, on the belief that transparency helps victims heal and leads to public accountability.

“There’s very significant problems with government agencies acting like private companies and requesting or insisting on these kinds of nondisclosure or non-disparagement clauses in settlement agreements,” said David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, based in San Rafael. “Because at the end of the day, the government works for the people and the people have a very compelling interest in knowing about claims and allegations of misconduct.”

California’s school districts are now grappling with a deluge of sex abuse cases resulting from a 2019 law that changed the statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse and created a new window — from 2020 to 2022 — in which anyone could file a lawsuit for past alleged abuse.

The Times identified more than 1,000 lawsuits against school districts filed since 2020, with more than 750 filed due to the new law. Some lawsuits allege abuse as far back as the 1950s. Most cases are still making their way through the courts, but more than 330 have settled for roughly $700 million, with $435 million paid out for claims related to the new law. The state projects that local education agencies will ultimately pay out between $2 billion and $3 billion once cases work through the court system. Much of this is taking place outside the public eye.

In Visalia, confidentiality clauses negotiated by district lawyers acknowledged the public’s right to obtain the information — and then attempted to make sure they never would. Four agreements specifically barred former students receiving secret payouts from “directly or indirectly” encouraging others to file a request under the state Public Records Act — the method The Times used to review copies of agreements referenced in this story.

A spokesperson for Visalia Unified declined an interview request, and the school district did not answer written questions.

Anaheim Union High School District paid three men, who said they had been abused by a junior high teacher, $3.3 million in 2023.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Several districts attempted to prevent allegations from becoming public by paying off accusers before they filed lawsuits that would have detailed the claims of sex abuse for anyone to see.

Anaheim Union High School District paid a trio of men who said they had been abused by a junior high teacher $3.3 million in 2023 after their attorney sent the district a draft of a lawsuit he said he was prepared to file in Superior Court.

The terms of the payout two years ago required that the men and their lawyers “not seek publicity relating to the facts and circumstances giving rise” to their claims, and indeed, the settlements have not been previously reported.

John Bautista, a spokesperson for Anaheim Union, said in a statement that the district and its insurer settled the draft lawsuits after going through discovery in a related case and “did not want to incur additional expenses of filing a lawsuit.”

“Nothing in the agreement would prevent the claimant/plaintiff from speaking with the press concerning the facts of the case if the press contacted [them],” Bautista said.

At least one district paid an accuser before anything was put in writing, records show. Victor Elementary School District in the High Desert negotiated a $350,000 settlement with one former student after his lawyer relayed abuse allegations in a phone call. Asked by The Times for a document describing the claimed misconduct, a district official said no such records existed.

Some districts suggest the confidentiality restrictions are needed to avoid a “snowball effect” of further litigation.

San Diego Unified, hit by more than a dozen lawsuits over alleged sex abuse since 2020, has settled four for a total of $2.44 million, each with a confidentiality clause that, at a minimum, prevents the accuser or her lawyer from disclosing the settlement amount. One of the settlements blocks the accuser from discussing the matter with anyone except her lawyer or financial advisor or in response to a subpoena.

San Diego officials acknowledged that confidentiality is ultimately limited — the documents can be disclosed via public records requests — but the district proceeded with pursuing restrictions on the accusers and their representatives.

“The purpose is to keep plaintiffs’ lawyers from using these settlements as marketing tools,” said James Canning, a spokesman for San Diego Unified.

Former state Sen. Connie Leyva, seen here while in the Legislature in 2019, said she was taken aback by school districts using confidentiality provisions. “That sounds illegal,” Leyva said.

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Efforts to curb the use of secret settlements gained momentum in the 1980s, with growing public awareness of how confidentiality agreements had kept the public in the dark about environmental or health hazards, such as asbestos.

In 2016, California prohibited settlement agreements that block the disclosure of factual information about sexual abuse or any sex offense that could be prosecuted as a felony.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, lawmakers in 2018 passed the STAND Act, which prohibits nondisclosure agreements in sexual harassment, discrimination and other sexual assault cases that don’t rise to felony prosecution. Three years later, the Silenced No More Act widened the prohibition on nondisclosure agreements to include any harassment case. The law still gives victims the option to protect their identity.

The lead sponsor of both bills, former state Sen. Connie Leyva, said she was taken aback by school districts using confidentiality provisions.

“That sounds illegal,” said Leyva, now the executive director of public radio and TV station KVCR. “We did not speak specifically about children or about schools, but it shouldn’t be happening.” She added, “Our bill was meant to apply to everyone everywhere.”

Several settlement agreements obtained by The Times included caveats by stating they were “confidential to the extent allowed by law,” or contained similar carve-outs. Experts said such provisos still have the effect of muzzling a victim’s speech and hindering public accountability.

“While it’s possible that these work-arounds don’t violate the letter of the STAND Act, they certainly violate its spirit,” said Nora Freeman Engstrom, a professor at Stanford Law School, who co-authored a study on the effect of the STAND Act in L.A. courts.

Southern Kern Unified School District agreed to pay $600,000 to a former student who alleged sex abuse and included an acknowledgment of the STAND Act in the agreement. Still, the settlement bars the former student, Corey Neufer, from “actively” publicizing the deal.

Reached by phone, Neufer said that although he deliberately chose to sue under his own name, rather than as John Doe, he was told that the confidentiality provision was standard and necessary for the final settlement.

“That was one of the stipulations — that I don’t speak about it or give any details,” said Neufer, who indicated the confidentiality was far broader than the text of his settlement suggests. “My lawyer instructed me to not talk about the case.”

The STAND Act allows for plaintiffs or claimants to put language in a settlement agreement that shields their identity and disclosure of any facts that could lead to their identity. However, if a public official or government agency — such as a school district — is part of the settlement, that language cannot be included.

Of the dozens of settlements reviewed by The Times, two specifically noted that the accuser wanted confidentiality to shield their identity.

Several had restrictions that appeared to exceed the STAND Act, such as a 2024 settlement for $787,500 paid by Ceres Unified to a custodian who said she was sexually harassed by a colleague. The signed agreement states that the settlement, its terms and any belief that the district or its employees engaged in unlawful behavior were all confidential. If asked, the custodian could only say, “The matter has been resolved.”

David Viss, an assistant superintendent at Ceres Unified, said in an email that the agreement complied with the law: “We believe the settlement agreement is consistent with the STAND Act.”

The overwhelming majority of sex abuse cases filed against school districts reach a settlement. For districts, a settlement can be more cost-effective than mounting a legal defense through a jury trial, and unlike a panel of jurors, a settlement provides a level of fiscal certainty. At times, the decision to settle is driven less by school board members than an insurance company or liability coverage provider.

John Manly, whose law firm specializes in childhood sex abuse, said school districts and their insurance providers frequently ask for confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses when negotiating a payout.

Lawyer John Manly, seen at his law offices in Irvine in 2023, has represented sex abuse survivors for more than 20 years. He says that confidentiality agreements “benefit one person, which is the perpetrator, and those who enable them.”

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“We get these requests all the time, and we decline,” Manly said. “Confidentiality agreements benefit one person, which is the perpetrator, and those who enable them.”

At Los Angeles Unified School District, scores of people accused former San Fernando High School wrestling coach Terry Gillard of abuse. In 2022, LAUSD agreed to pay 23 accusers a total of $52 million to settle molestation and abuse claims — a settlement negotiated by Manly’s law firm.

A year later, LAUSD agreed to pay three other women who alleged abuse by Gillard a total of $7.5 million.

Although those represented by Manly’s team did not have a confidentiality or non-disparagement agreement in their settlement, LAUSD sought an extensive confidentiality agreement for the payout to the three other women, curtailing discussion of the settlement and underlying abuse claims.

That settlement barred their lawyer from making any sort of statement — or encouraging others to make a statement — about the compensation deal, and barred comments that could “defame, disparage or in any way criticize” LAUSD, its employees and leaders.

Only the women, their lawyer, “immediate family” and “tax professional” could know about the settlement, according to the agreement.

“If asked about the status of this dispute, plaintiffs counsel may only state, ‘they have voluntarily and fully resolved their claims against the Los Angeles Unified School District,’ or words to that effect,” declares the settlement agreement.

The lawyer for the women, Anthony DeMarco, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Manly said the State Bar of California should investigate lawyers on both sides who agree to language that they know conflicts with state law. And he called on Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to investigate school districts that continue to lock victims into such restrictive agreements.

“It’s wrong. It’s bad for the community and it’s bad for the victim. The lawyers that do it — defense and plaintiff — should be ashamed of themselves.”

L.A. Unified, which has added confidentiality provisions in at least seven settlements since 2020, defended its practices as a way to amicably resolve litigation, according to a statement from a spokesperson.

“These settlement agreements keep the settlement details, such as the amount, confidential. They do not prohibit the disclosure of the facts behind the claims,” the LAUSD spokesperson said.

Some legal experts want Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to investigate school districts that continue to lock victims into restrictive nondisclosure agreements.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

While several districts use secrecy provisions in settlement agreements to hide the details of sex abuse cases, others, like Visalia Unified, also are able to keep payouts quiet by approving them in closed session at regular school board meetings.

In 2021, the president of the board of Wasco Union High School District received a letter from a lawyer based in Iowa who represented a former Wasco student. The lawyer said his client had been sexually abused nearly a decade earlier by her former coach and teacher, and accused her then-principal, Kevin Tallon, among others, of not taking appropriate steps when confronted with evidence of abuse.

Tallon, now Wasco’s superintendent, was named as a defendant in the draft lawsuit, and the lawyer included a copy. He gave the district 14 business days to respond.

“If I do not hear back from you, I will proceed with the lawsuit,” wrote the lawyer, Thomas Burke.

The letter touched off a negotiation that culminated at the Wasco school board’s final meeting of 2021. The meeting’s agenda for the closed session was circumspect: “Conference with Legal Counsel — Settlement Agreement.” But behind closed doors, the board voted 5 to 0 to approve a settlement, according to meeting minutes, ensuring that there would probably never be a public airing of the allegations against the teacher or superintendent. The meeting minutes reflect only that a settlement was approved — not the amount or nature of the abuse accusations. The district paid $475,000 in the settlement, a sum that The Times obtained via records request.

Tallon, the superintendent who was named in the draft lawsuit, declined an interview but provided written responses to questions. He said the district and its staff “fulfilled its duties diligently and with integrity,” and said the settlement was approved in a way that adhered to the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law.

“The settlement was not intended to conceal allegations; it was meant to responsibly limit risk and bring closure to a sensitive situation,” Tallon said in the statement.

Legal experts agreed that Wasco’s school board complied with the Brown Act — thereby exposing that law’s limits and potential loopholes. Since the threat of litigation did not result in a filed case or formal claim, the board could treat it as “anticipated litigation” and discuss it in closed session, away from the public. And since settlement offers — like any contract negotiation — are not final until agreed upon, they too can be approved in closed session, away from the public.

Loy, the legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the Brown Act could be amended to proactively require public agencies to ultimately disclose the details and amounts of settlements. School districts, he added, could also opt to be more open, without being compelled to by state lawmakers.

“Agencies owe a duty to the public to be more proactive and more transparent, even than the bare minimum letter of the law might allow them to get away with,” Loy said.

The lack of transparency also coincides with a crisis in local news, which has resulted in far less coverage of city halls, courthouses and school boards from the Imperial Valley to the shores of Eureka.

At one time, newspapers big and small had reporters at school board meetings who probably would have noticed settlements on the agenda and submitted records requests to reveal them.

With local media absent, agencies have quietly approved settlements in closed session, with no watchdog to suss out the underlying facts.

“Diligent people or reporters know to do that: Please give me copies of every settlement approved this week or this month,” said Loy, the First Amendment Coalition’s legal director. “But that requires an extra step.”