prepared

Claudia Winkleman has set the record straight on her Strictly Come Dancing experience, as she and Tess Daly are set to leave Strictly Come Dancing at the end of the 2025 series

Television host and national treasure Claudia Winkleman told fans to “be prepared” before revealing her true thoughts on Strictly Come Dancing.

Claudia, 53, recently announced alongside co-host Tess Daly that the pair would be leaving the popular BBC programme after over 20 years of holding various presenting roles on the series.

Claudia, who also hosts The Traitors and Celebrity Traitors, opened up about the origins of her working on the programme in her book Quite, explaining that it was the ultimate case of someone being in the right place at the right time.

She said: “Strictly has been (I don’t want your stomach to turn, so please be prepared) a gift to me. A barnstorming, stonking, thunderbolt of a present.

“I started working on It Takes Two in 2004. There had been one series already, my son was tiny and they said, ‘Look, can you talk about the foxtrot every night live at 6.30pm?’”

She added: “I could be with him all morning and then go to work. I know. It was a six week run and I was ridiculously lucky.

“I then went on to present the results show and when Sir Bruce resigned I got Tess’s job. Sometimes good fortune just falls in your lap. How did I, a short, scruffy, orange idiot get to be part of one of the nation’s favourite TV shows?

“All I can say is there has been no better example of right place, right time on earth.”

In a statement on Instagram announcing of her exit from the show, Claudia said: “It’s very difficult to put into words exactly what Strictly has meant to me. It’s been the greatest relationship of my career.

“From working on It Takes Two in 2004 until now it has been my everything, the show I will be eternally grateful for.

“I will never forget Len Goodman trying to teach me what a cucaracha is (I still don’t know) and the complete thrill and honour it was to work with Tess on the results show to co-hosting on Saturday nights.

“Strictly is a magical, glittery, fake tanned train and it’s been a privilege to be a tiny part of it. The extraordinary talent of the dancers, the band, the hair and makeup and costume teams, the unbelievable production crew and creatives – all utterly amazing.

“I’ve always believed it’s best to leave a party before you’re fully ready to go and I know the new hosts will be magnificent.”

For decades, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) prepared for war, confident in its advantage over any adversary. Its member states invested heavily in state-of-the-art weapons. Stealth aircraft, precision weaponry, secretive submarines and city-sized aircraft carriers stood as the guardians of the West.

This power appeared unshakable until recently. On September 10, during another massive Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, more than 20 Russian drones crossed into neighbouring Poland. The NATO member had to scramble multimillion-euro military equipment – F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, military helicopters and Patriot surface-to-air missile systems – in order to shoot down potential threats. Several drones were shot down, including three Shaheds and several cheaply made foam dummies.

That interception operation was not only costly, but it also busted the myth of Western military might. Trillions of dollars in investment in the military industrial complex could not protect NATO borders from two dozen inexpensive drones.

In the following days, unidentified drones shut down airports in Norway, Denmark and Germany, costing airlines millions of euros; in Belgium, drones were also spotted near a military base.

The European media is full of stories about unidentifiable drones, air defences, and speculation over possible directions of a Russian strike. Romania? Poland? The Baltic States? Along the entire eastern border of the European Union, there is no place where the population feels truly safe.

It is hard to imagine the scale of chaos should Russian forces actually go on the offensive. How many countries would act under NATO’s Article 5, which allows for collective action against a military threat against a single member, and how swiftly? By then, where would the Russian forces be?

The central question remains: can the North Atlantic alliance and its modern military technology stop such an advance?

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated that the answer is no. Russian forces display a persistence in combat possible only under dictatorial regimes, where soldiers are indoctrinated and fear their own command more than the enemy.

Modern methods of warfare against armies modelled on World Wars I and II are not nearly as effective as generals once claimed. One just has to look at the front line in Ukraine and the constantly evolving military strategies.

Faced with a formidable military power with seemingly unlimited budget and unconstrained military reach, the Ukrainians had to adapt quickly. They began deploying drones against Russian armour, but the enemy did not remain idle against these attacks. It started constructing improvised metal cages over tank turrets to absorb explosions.

Precision strikes with Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) cluster munitions taught them to disperse ammunition in small points, avoiding concentrations of troops and equipment.

Drones on both sides monitor the front line, but it is scorched earth: no movement of tanks or infantry can be seen. Russian advances proceed covertly, mostly at night, with two- or three-man teams crossing bombardment zones, gradually assembling for surprise attacks. Troops on both sides are dug deep underground; what is visible is only the casualty count — several thousand each week.

Is Europe prepared for this type of war? Are NATO soldiers capable of surviving for weeks in foxholes and ruins, without communicating, to avoid detection and destruction?

A survey conducted by Gallup last year suggests the answer is no. In Poland, 45 percent of respondents said they would voluntarily defend their country if war threatened. In Spain, the figure was 29 percent; in Germany, only 23 percent; in Italy, a meagre 14 percent; the EU average was 32 percent.

More than three years into the war with Russia, Ukraine itself is suffering from severe shortages of personnel. Forced conscription has become increasingly unpopular, and draft evasion is widespread, according to Ukrainian media and Western observers. Even with Western weapons and funding, the shortage of soldiers limits Ukraine’s ability to hold the line or conduct meaningful offensives.

Currently, the active personnel of NATO’s European allies number around 1.47 million; that includes the United Kingdom. That seems considerable, until it is compared with Ukraine, where an 800,000-strong army has been facing a 600,000-strong Russian force over a 1,000-kilometre (621-mile) front for more than three years, gradually retreating.

Then there is also the difficult question of how many countries would actually send troops to the eastern front, and in what numbers. Would the NATO member states on the eastern flank be left to fend for themselves, only supplied with arms by their Western allies? And would that lead to tensions within the alliance, and its possible paralysis or even breakup?

Europe has only two options to feel even partially secure: either continue to spend trillions of euros rapidly expanding its own military capabilities, or try to put an end to the Russian aggression by providing full financial and military support to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that his nation requires $60bn annually to fend off Russian aggression. It is a heavy burden for the West, especially in these challenging times. Yet it is negligible compared with the price Ukraine is paying — in money, military and civilian lives, lost territory, and destroyed infrastructure.

While Europe hesitates with calculators in hand, Ukraine fights. Every day the war continues, the risk of it spreading westward increases.

The time for swift decisions is now.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

IT is often a shock when celebrities suddenly find themselves sprayed orange and squeezed into a skimpy outfit for Strictly.

But for proud Geordie Vicky Pattison it is not a problem, because that is how she has spent most Saturday nights since she was as a teenager.

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For the TV star, getting dolled up to the nines every weekend is not being Strictlyfied, it is just being a lass from Newcastle.

Vicky, 37, said: “Everybody knows I’m super nervous about this entire process, I’m just a gobby girl from the north east doing her best.

“The dancing, the being out my comfort zone, learning something new, being judged by the public is also terrifying.

“But the one element that made me feel really excited and I had no reservations about at all was definitely being Strictlyfied.

“I’m sorry but the tan, the hair, the glam! I’ve been preparing for this for like 25 years.

“Like, I didn’t even have to change my fake tan routine at all — this girl was ready.”

Although Vicky, who is partnered on this series with pro Kai Widdrington, admits she likes a party her blind spot is actually the dancing.

She said: “I’ve joked that this is the first time I’ve danced sober but it’s probably not that far from the truth.

“You normally see me at people’s parties at the bar or chewing someone’s ear off in the kitchen. Definitely the last place you’d find me is on the dance floor.

“Everyone is gonna think I’m a novice — and they’d be right. But I am ready for a challenge and desperate to prove myself and some people wrong along the way.”

‘Reality TV scum’

Vicky admits people constantly underestimate her and in the 14 years since she shot to fame on MTV series Geordie Shore, has always been a bit of an underdog.

It was something Vicky, who last year married fashion brand businessman Ercan Ramadan, faced when she was a contestant on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here a decade ago.

Cynics would do well to remember she won that contest after a substantial public vote.

She said: “Winning the jungle was the best moment of my life, maybe tied with the day that I got married to Ercan.

“Everybody just wanted us out initially. Obviously I was in there and in me bubble and I’m actually really grateful for that, you know.

“But I learned afterwards everyone was like: ‘Get her out. We don’t want her in here. Reality TV scum blah, blah, blah.’

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I’ve joked that this is the first time I’ve danced sober but it’s probably not that far from the truth. You normally see me at people’s parties at
the bar . . . not on the dancefloor

“I don’t know what they thought I was gonna do like, go in there and down a Jaegerbomb and punch a kangaroo or something?

“I just wanted a chance to prove myself, to show people that I could be something different than what they’ve seen before.

“I just want to put my best SELF forward and within about 24 hours I was the favourite to win. I’m so proud of me achievement there.

“This is a very different ball game. I’m totally aware of that. But, like I say, I have always been the underdog and if people wanna get behind us, that is really nice.”

Although the public have yet to be fully won over by her dance on last week’s first live show, she finished in fifth place on the scoreboard — which is pretty impressive given she is one of 15 celebrities competing.

Meanwhile bookies Ladbrokes have her as favourite to win at 5/1, ahead of West End star Amber Davies and ex-footballer Karen Carney whose sensational jive saw her top the scoreboard last week.

Vicky said: “I can’t believe anyone would have us down as favourite in the lasses to win. I mean, have you seen the women in this competition? They’re all incredible.

“Amber’s amazing, did you see Kaz Carney’s jive on Saturday night? I mean, come on, that’s my winner right there!

“Bal is beautiful inside and out and just has so much rhythm. Alex is so theatrical and emotional when she dances it’s so beautiful.

“Ellie’s energy is infectious, just don’t even get us started on La Voix, you can’t look anywhere else when she’s on the stage.

“Maybe there’s a mistake there with those odds.”

Despite being up against the likes of Amber, who has appeared in 9 to 5 The Musical and stage show Back To The Future, plus Lewis Cope who was in the stage version of Billy Elliot, she feels no resentment.

Instead she adopts a more philosophical approach to the issue which pops up each series.

I don’t know what people thought I was gonna do in the jungle . . . like go in and down a Jaegerbomb
and punch a kangaroo?

Vicky said: “Every year Strictly has people of different abilities, doesn’t it? Some people who have never danced before, totally inexperienced, and some people maybe did ballet before as kids, some people a bit more.

“I don’t think it’s a big problem.It’s part and parcel and there’s loads of different styles of dance isn’t there?

“Just because someone’s experienced in one, doesn’t mean they’re experienced in another.

“Also, I do think it’s nice for the viewers at home that they get to watch some really good dancers early doors, like you know when maybe the rest of us are just learning. There is some still really brilliant performances to watch and everyone goes on a journey.”

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Vicky sees her journey continuing after she has completed Strictly, whether that is after this weekend’s first eviction, or after potentially making her way to the final.

But she admits wherever her career goes, it won’t be in dance.
She said: “I honestly haven’t thought past getting through the first week.

“Like if I managed to stay in on Saturday I’ll be shocked and over the moon.

“I certainly haven’t got any Grand Designs on being a West End star or, you know, pivoting into the world of performing. There’s far more deserving and better people than me. I’m a big fan of Strictly, I’ve watched it since I was a kid.

“I watched it with me grandma — it was me grandma’s favourite. I think that’s why I’m doing it, great big tick off the bucket list.

“But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping it would take us to different opportunities.

“The BBC is British institution, it’s a great channel. I would love to make more TV with them so, yeah, maybe I am hoping it will lead to more things but probably not in the dance space to be totally honest.”

Vicky and Kai will be dancing a foxtrot to the track Rein Me In tonight, which has special meaning as its by Sam Fender who she describes as “a Geordie legend.”

She added: “I feel like I’ve got the weight of the world on my shoulders trying to do, like, all the Northeast proud, Ercan proud, Kai proud, myself and my family proud.

“I’m absolutely terrified. Everyone keeps saying like, ‘Oh do you feel a bit better now you’ve got the first show and the first live dance done?’ I’m like, no I’m not.

“I’m still nervous. I can actually go home you know. It’s just like we’re dancing for fun. It’s not even a pre-record, we’re live and I’m just not ready.

“I’m not ready to say goodbye to people. I’m not ready for this journey to be over so I actually feel sick to my stomach about it.

“By nature, I’m not a very confident person, despite appearances.”

• Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC One today at 6.20pm.

Morning training would start early.

If any of Waterman’s young players weren’t on the touchline by 6:30am, the gate would shut and she would exclude any latecomers from the session.

“I lived in Gloucester, so I would travel to Hartpury and get all the equipment out before each session,” she said.

“I said to the girls if I can be here and be ready for you on time – you only have to walk 200 metres to get here.

“I was pretty strict with them, but for good reason – if you turned up to an England session late, you wouldn’t be training and you wouldn’t be selected.

“I would much rather they learn their lessons with me in that safe environment.

“Living that far away from home at that age, they needed a coach, a mentor, various elements of being a psychologist, a bit of a mum in some ways.

“I was called ‘Mummy Nolli’ quite a lot! There was a bit of a running joke that not many could come out of a meeting with me, without having had a little bit of a cry.

“I think I was just that consistent and constant person that they could come to and talk to about anything.”

It was serious. But, inevitably, it was also silly.

Waterman remembers one player having their possessions covered in cling film. Another had their legs turn orange when one of her team-mates swapped massage oil for fake tan.

“It was the best time of my life,” says Jones. “It was such an important time, it set us up for now.”

Waterman reluctantly left after three years in the role, struggling to balance being a player and a teacher.

Nine months later, she scored the opening try in England’s 21-9 win over Canada in the World Cup final.

In nine days time, she hopes to see her former charges become the first England team to win the title since then.

“They deserve everything that comes their way because they are not just incredibly talented rugby players, but more so because they are brilliant women,” said Waterman.

“They are exactly who I want my son, along with so many young girls and daughters across the country, to be looking up to. They are mega.”

Whether or not Waterman’s former pupils end up posing with the trophy on 27 September, it won’t be the image that means most to her however.

“They are at an age now where some are having had children or are getting married and I see the photographs – and, years on, there is always a photograph of them with their friends from Hartpury,” she says.

“The lifelong friendships that they all have are so special. To me, that is one of the biggest and most precious things I’ve taken from my time coaching them – my friendship with them, but also the friendships and fun that they have still together.”

You can find out more about Hartpury’s influence on the Red Roses on a special report to be broadcast by BBC Bristol on Friday, 26 September.

The Emmy Awards bring together the best and brightest in television each year, and as such, it’s always a tightly secured event. This year will be no exception.

The security measures for Sunday’s awards ceremony, which will be held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in the heart of downtown, was reviewed with close eyes this week in light of Wednesday’s fatal shooting of political commentator Charlie Kirk in Utah.

With any large event, law enforcement officials and organizers take caution with security measures, but the recent spate recent of political violence targeting elected officials and those in the public eye have brought increased attention to how these large and highly publicized events are secured.

Though LAPD did not offer specifics about the security measures it was taking, an official for the department said they are ready for the event. “For security reasons, the Department does not discuss protective measures for special events or any public gatherings. What I can assure you is that we are appropriately staffed and fully prepared,” said Jennifer Forkish, LAPD communications director.

For several years, the LAPD has had a SWAT team at the scene, and numerous Metro officers and counter snipers have been visibly stationed on rooftops. Law enforcement officials also design a vehicle approach with barriers that prevents car bombings and vehicle attacks.

Since the attacks on 9/11, the 24th anniversary of which were recognized this week, the department has applied an extensive layer of security to the biggest awards ceremonies with large red carpets. The Peacock Theater also has security personnel who use metal-detector screening, visual inspection and bag inspection to keep guests safe.

The Television Academy revisited its security system for the weekend in light of Kirk’s shooting death at a speaking event on a college campus.

“We’re absolutely relooking at all of our security plans, but we always have a very robust security plan in place,” Television Academy president and chief executive Maury McIntyre told Variety on Thursday. “I know that basically once things happened yesterday, our security personnel all gathered together to just recheck things like that. Sitting with the LA Police Department, sitting with our department of transportation, just to make sure that we felt buttoned up. We are confident in the plans we’ve got in place.”

Stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze is hosting the 77th Emmy Awards, which begin at 5 p.m. PDT Sunday and will be broadcast live on CBS and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+.

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – A day prior to the marquee India-Pakistan cricket clash at the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai, it’s a tale of two teams positioned on opposite ends of the pre-match hype metre as political frenzy envelops the fixture.

As a result of the hoopla, the game of cricket has been reduced to a supporting act.

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate faced the heat as his side’s designated news conference representative on Saturday.

The former Netherlands international cricketer was sent to tackle a barrage of questions on the tense atmosphere in the wake of the four-day conflict in May, when the South Asian archrivals came close to an all-out war.

Unlike the pre-tournament news conference, where media persons were discouraged from asking political questions, Saturday’s event was heavier on politics and lighter on cricket.

Doeschate, who has been part of the Indian coaching set-up for over a year, was asked to talk about the players’ mindset in the lead-up to the match and whether the simmering sentiments back home will affect them.

“It will play on the minds of the players, who share the compassion of the Indian public,” Doeschate said.

However, the coach urged them to “put the sentiments and emotions behind” when they step on the field.

“It’s something we have addressed in the dressing room in team meetings. We are aware of the feelings [of Indian fans], but the guys have to play for their country, so they will be as professional and focused as they can be given the circumstances.”

While the conversation occasionally turned to India’s team combination for the match and tackling a new-look Pakistani T20 side, some sections of the media kept steering it back to themes such as “using the sports field as an avenue for protest [against the opponent]” and, cynically, protecting the players from the outside noise.

However, ten Doeschate was careful in his handling of questions on the delicate theme and did not attempt to shut down the constant probing.

He revealed India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s message to the dressing room in the lead-up to the Pakistan match.

“It’s been about being professional, not worrying about things not in our control and trying to be emotionless when approaching the cricket side of things.”

The 45-year-old former allrounder wrapped up by saying the way the Indian team plays on Sunday will “represent how the players feel about the country.”

‘Just another cricket match’

Meanwhile, Pakistan took the opposite approach to the media scrutiny by sending Saim Ayub, a very nonchalant young member of the squad, to deal with the barrage of critical and deceptively political questions.

The allrounder flat-batted the inquest into Pakistan’s inability to beat India in recent games by repeating the “past is past” mantra that every athlete knows so well.

Pakistan’s last win over India, in all formats and competitions, came in October 2021, when Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan guided them home by 10 wickets.

The 23-year-old has never played a match against India, and when he was asked to recount his experience of being on the reserves’ bench during the India-Pakistan game at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, he simply blamed amnesia for his inability to recall his feelings from last June.

“I could have answered your question better had you asked last year,” he quipped.

Ayub, whose main role in the team is to open the batting, has seen a dip in his run-scoring form since his return from injury this year.

In his 15 T20I innings since May, Ayub has scored 40 or more runs on four occasions, only one of which came during the recent tri-nation T20 series in the UAE.

The left-handed batter dealt with the criticism of his performance with a smirk and said, “The same player can’t be expected to win the match every time.”

“The team is made up of 11 players, and we try that every player stands up on a different day. We can only try to give our best effort and hope that the result goes our way.”

When it was his turn to face questions on the hyped up match and how it could lead to on-field nerves, Ayub was happy to term it “just another cricket match”.

“It can be a big fixture for some people, but for us, it’s just another match where we must improve our performance.”

A changed-up Pakistan team led by a new captain and coach will look to change the recent trend in results against India, while their opponents will aim to not only win the contest on the pitch, but also placate a charged-up fanbase back home.

Serbia have called on “supporters to send out an image to the world that will make us all proud” as they prepare to host England in a World Cup qualifier.

At least 15% of Belgrade’s Rajko Mitic Stadium will be closed to home fans as a Fifa punishment for racist chanting in a game against Andorra.

A statement from the Serbian FA, external (FSS) said it has been fined more than £600,000 by Fifa and Uefa in the past five years.

The punishments were for “various prohibited items, insults, and discrimination in the stands”, it said.

Branko Radujko, the general secretary of the FSS, warned Serbia fans in the match programme before the England game that any transgressions could get them in more trouble.

“We are still under special monitoring of Uefa,” he wrote. “Every inappropriate reaction, insult or incident could cost us dearly on our path to the USA, Mexico and Canada, including the possibility of having to play a decisive match with Albania behind closed doors.

“That is the reason I sincerely and seriously call on you: let us cheer from the heart but let it be fair. We can be loud but dignified. Let our support be a source of strength, not a risk for the national team.”

England captain Harry Kane said: “We had a meeting and discussed the Uefa protocols that are in place. We don’t like to discuss it too much. Our focus is on the game. Anything can happen but we are not thinking about that.

“We are prepared to do what Uefa protocols allow us to do. I thought we handled it well in Bulgaria [in 2019]. We are prepared, had a discussion and if it [racist abuse] does happen we will be prepared to do what is necessary.”

Uefa’s three-point protocol asks referees to…

BBC Sport looks at the reasons for Serbia’s punishments – and the history of racism England have faced against Serbian national teams before.

A WOMAN who moved from a council estate to a “posh” house has admitted she wasn’t prepared for her nightmare neighbour.

TerriAnn is famous for appearing on TV show Rich House, Poor House, and regularly shares behind the scenes tales from the show on her social media pages.

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In a recent TikTok, she decided to post a story time of “coming from a council estate and moving to a ‘POSH’ area”, as she recalled acclimatising to the new home, and an unfortunate situation with their neighbour.

Calling it her “dream home”, which came complete with a cinema room and bar, TerriAnn said the real problems began when she spent £40,000 building a home office in her garden.

“Then I had a new neighbour and he was a doctor and he wasn’t very nice,” she said.

“I think personally he could not stand the fact like I’m just me – I’m not posh, I’m just me, I’ll never change.

“I’ll always be from a council estate, always a bit rough and ready… and he just couldn’t stand us.”

While the house had a “massive drive” for all her staff to park on, they all arrived for work at different times, meaning that they ended up blocking each other in.

So they instead decided to park on the street.

And following one of her staff having an argument with the neighbour, the man ended up phoning the council to complain.

“Then when council got involved basically the reason I had to move out of the house is because they said I couldn’t run my business from there,” she said.

“So I’d spent £40,000 on this office being built in the back garden and the council turned around and said you’re using your property as a commercial property.

“There was a massive hoo-ha over it anyway and I thought, I’m not staying here and not being able to run my business.

“It’s just not worth it what we’ve invested.”

So they decided to sell the house – making a profit in the process – and then moved to another home, which was the one that featured in Rich House, Poor House.

Concluding the video, TerriAnn said it wasn’t the first time she’d been discriminated against for coming from a council estate – and it probably won’t be the last.

“I think they look down on people who have turned their life around, who are now living that lifestyle – who are doing it by genuine means, who are earning legitimate money.”

She was quickly praised in the comments section for her refreshing attitude, with one writing: “Love to see my own kind of people getting along in life good on you.

“Sounds like the doctor was very bitter and jealous of you!”

“You hit the nail on the head,” another agreed.

“As long as you’re happy now!” a third said.

“Love your story times, you’re so real,” someone else added.

The Bank of England is prepared to make larger interest rate cuts if the job market shows signs of slowing down, its governor has said.

In an interview with the Times, Andrew Bailey said “I really do believe the path is downward” on interest rates.

Interest rates currently stand at 4.25% and will be reviewed at the Bank’s next meeting on 7 August, when many economists expect the rate will be cut.

They affect mortgage, credit card and savings rates for millions of people.

Speaking to the Times, Mr Bailey said the UK’s economy was growing behind its potential, opening up “slack” that would help to bring down ­inflation.

The governor said there were consistent signs that businesses were “adjusting employment and hours” and were giving smaller pay rises following UK Chancellor Rachel Reeve’s move to increase employers’ national insurance contributions.

Reeves raised national insurance rates for employers from 13.8% to 15% in April this year, in a move the government estimated would generate £25bn a year.

The latest official figures show the number of job vacancies in the UK has dropped to 736,000 over the three months to May – its lowest level since 2021 when firms had halted hiring during the Covid pandemic.

Meanwhile, the number of people available for work has jumped at its fastest pace since the pandemic, according to a survey from auditor KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation trade body.

“I think the path [for interest rates] is down. I really do believe the path is downward,” the governor said.

“But we continue to use the words ‘gradual and careful’ because… some people say to me ‘why are you cutting when inflation’s above target?”‘ he added.

Louise Dudley, portfolio manager at investor Federated Hermes, told the BBC’s Today programme that Mr Bailey’s comments suggested a rate cut was likely “sooner rather than later”.

Interest rates were left unchanged during the Bank’s last meeting in June, following two cuts earlier in the year.

During that meeting, Mr Bailey also said interest rates would take a “gradual downward path”.

The UK economy contracted by 0.1% in May, after also shrinking in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The unexpected dip was mainly driven by a drop in manufacturing, while retail sales were also “very weak”, said the ONS.

On April 15, Austrian Nobel laureate Peter Handke was supposed to appear on Austria’s national broadcaster ORF to talk about his new writings. Instead, he proceeded to once again deny that the Srebrenica genocide happened, calling it Brudermord – biblical fratricide and framing it as a spiritual tragedy rather than a crime against humanity.

ORF stood by its decision to interview Handke when it faced criticism. It claimed that it had done nothing wrong since the interviewer acknowledged the genocide in a question.

That a European broadcaster would choose to platform genocide denial at this time is hardly surprising.

Europe faces a crisis not only of memory but of dangerous continuity. From the Holocaust to Srebrenica to Gaza, denial of state violence against marginalised groups seeks to erase past atrocities, normalise present ones, and pave the way for future ones.

Fratricide as ‘the worst crime’

The Bosnian genocide was the first genocide broadcast on television. In 1995, distressing images from Srebrenica filled living rooms worldwide, exposing the failure of international protection. Despite a lengthy process of prosecuting war crimes through the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and court decisions implicating the complicity of European peacekeepers in the massacres, denial of the Bosnian genocide continues to be well tolerated in Europe.

While Handke is by far not the only prominent public figure who engages in it, his rhetoric makes clear how this crime has come to be weaponised in minimising German and Austrian guilt for the Holocaust.

Handke portrays the Bosnian genocide as a tragic civil war between “brothers” – Brudermord. He romanticises war criminals as victims and embeds genocide denial in a fascist narrative of redemption through ethnic violence.

According to him, fratricide is “much worse” than genocide – ie, those who kill their “brothers” must be deemed worse criminals than the Nazis who killed “the other”. By framing atrocities this way, Handke effectively minimises the responsibility of Germans and Austrians for the Holocaust.

In this twisted narrative, the descendants of the Nazis can claim moral superiority, insisting they did not commit the “worst crime of all”- Brudermord. The chilling implication is that Jews were never truly “brothers” to Europeans like Handke.

Serb nationalists may see Handke as an ally in genocide denial, but he doesn’t defend them – he uses them. Through them, white Europe cleans its hands of its bloody crimes – from Auschwitz to Algeria, from Congo to Rwanda. Handke’s theological language is an alchemy of European conscience, shifting guilt onto the Muslims, the Jews, and the “Balkan savages”.

Transplanting anti-Semitism

Handke’s logic parallels and reinforces the broader campaign to shift the blame for anti-Semitism – and even the Holocaust – onto Arabs and Muslims. In Germany, this trend has been fully embraced by the state and various public institutions, which – against all evidence – have begun to claim that the immigrant Muslim community in the country is responsible for rising anti-Semitic sentiment.

In 2024, the German parliament, the Bundestag, passed a resolution stating that “the alarming extent of anti-Semitism” is “driven by immigration from North African and Middle Eastern countries”.

German media continues to fabricate a “Muslim Nazi past”, with one article claiming: “Unlike Germany, the Middle East has never come to terms with its Nazi past.” Meanwhile, state-funded NGOs have branded the Palestinian keffiyeh a Nazi symbol and echoed the discredited Israeli claim that the grand mufti of Palestine “inspired” the Final Solution.

Germany’s political establishment is now constructing a revisionist moral alibi: one in which Nazis are reimagined as reluctant, remorseful perpetrators, while Palestinians and their Muslim and Arab allies are vilified as more evil than the Nazis themselves.

For many years, this used to be a fringe idea adopted by far-right parties like the Alternative for Germany (AfD). But now, the AfD’s core ideas, not just on Germany’s Nazi past, but also on immigration and Islam, have been widely adopted by the political centre.

This shift reflects a longstanding strategy of displacing guilt. Historian Ernst Nolte, celebrated by the conservative Konrad Adenauer Foundation with a major award in 2000, argued the Holocaust was a reaction to Soviet “barbarism”, relativising Nazi crimes by equating Auschwitz with the Gulag.

Nolte argued that Hitler had “rational” reasons for targeting the Jews and rejected the “collective guilt” attributed to Germany since 1945. Today, AfD leader Alice Weidel echoes this stance, dismissing Germany’s remembrance culture as a “guilt cult”.

Where Nolte blamed the Soviets, today’s political establishment blames Muslims. The goal is the same: to erase German responsibility from history.

From denial to enabling

Genocide denial is not a passive act of forgetting but an active, harmful process that perpetuates violence. Genocide scholar Gregory Stanton recognises denial as the final stage of genocide, one that is also a critical sign that the next one is coming.

For survivors and their descendants, denial deepens trauma by invalidating suffering, distorting truth, and stripping victims of dignity, memory and justice. These wounds extend beyond individuals, affecting entire communities across generations.

Meanwhile, genocide denial shields perpetrators, delays reparations and blocks reconciliation, deepening social divisions. It also undermines international law and human rights frameworks, signalling that even crimes against humanity can be ignored.

Genocide denial, thus, directly prepares the ground for the next genocide to take place and be accepted. We see this clearly in how Europeans are reacting to the genocide in Gaza, denying that it is happening at all, despite repeated pronouncements by United Nations experts and genocide scholars, and continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover.

The playbook developed in Bosnia is now applied to Gaza. It follows a familiar pattern: blame “both sides”, portray victims as aggressors, and assign responsibility to a few individuals – thus hiding systematic violence. This blueprint is perhaps most clearly echoed in the claim that it is only Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his two far-right ministers who are responsible for the “violence” happening in Gaza, thus separating policy from structure and evading deeper accountability.

In the narrative denying the Bosnian genocide, responsibility is also reduced to a few “bad apples” within the Serb state apparatus – as if genocide were a spontaneous aberration rather than a meticulously planned, state-executed crime requiring widespread coordination and intent.

Preparing for a future genocide in Europe

Europe today faces a profound crisis as far-right nationalism surges and a vanishing middle class struggles amid growing social and economic precarity. In many Western countries, the middle class is shrinking while what the right calls “surplus population” – disproportionately composed of Muslims – is increasingly marginalised and scapegoated.

In a time like this, recasting a past genocide against an othered population as a misunderstanding contributes to creating the environment for the next genocide to come. And there are already clear indications that segments of the political class are pushing for removing this “surplus population” under various guises.

The Nazi euphemism “Umsiedlung nach Osten” (resettlement to the East) was a grotesque excuse to deport Jews to gas chambers. Today, European actors like Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner openly advocate for “remigration”, a sinister echo of this deadly logic aimed at uprooting Muslim communities.

European political elites may not have embraced this term yet, but they are busy putting into practice various policies that have the same ultimate goal – limit or decrease the Muslim presence in Europe. They have been building a legal regime for exclusion through the 2024 EU Migration Pact, plans to offshore asylum seekers to Albania or other countries, and a big injection of cash into Frontex, the EU’s border agency accused of – among other things – illegal pushbacks.

These are not neutral measures but ideological tools of racialised removal, cloaked in liberal rhetoric. And they will only get more violent with time.

This is not alarmism. It’s a pattern. The erosion of rights always begins with those deemed to be “the other”.

If genocide denial is not urgently addressed, if the Gaza genocide is not recognised and immediate action taken to stop it, Europe risks coming full circle. With genocide denial expanding and the urge to renounce responsibility for the Holocaust growing, the ground is being prepared for these horrific atrocities to repeat.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.