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Saturday Night Live UK’s cold open featured Peter Serafinowicz in a guest cameo as Nigel Farage, spoofing the Reform UK leader as Prime Minister in 2046 following the party’s sweeping local election wins.

Shaun Of The Dead actor Peter Serafinowicz made a surprise appearance playing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as prime minister in an SNL UK sketch set in the year 2046.

The comedy programme kicked off on Saturday evening with a political skit depicting Mr Farage occupying Number 10, pulling pints at his desk while US President Donald Trump has seized control as the nation’s king.

The sketch took aim at the party’s landslide victories during this week’s local council and Scottish and Welsh elections. It began with ‘Mr Farage’ recording a personalised 120th birthday message for much-loved naturalist Sir David Attenborough, before Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch (Ayoade Bamgboye) appeared as his deputy.

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“Big news day, Prime Minister. Thanks to our deportations, the population of London is finally down to single fingers,” she said, drawing uproarious laughter from Mr Farage.

Taking a swipe at the continuing tensions between the US and Iran, she went on: “One last thing, King Trump assures us he has almost negotiated a ceasefire over the Strait of Hormuz.”

Mr Farage responds: “Phew, for a minute there, it felt like we were on the brink of World War Four.”

The pair jest that since their parties joined forces, they have been “unstoppable”, drawing a comparison to the spreading hantavirus, referencing the outbreak that has dominated news coverage in recent days. After checking the weather forecast – which shows London engulfed in flames, satirising climate change – the pair head out for a stroll before Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner emerge from behind a bookshelf, which turns out to be a time machine.

The former deputy leader, portrayed by Celeste Dring, warns Sir Keir (George Fouracres) that unless he allows her to run the government, “this future will come to pass”, to which he replies he will “seize every moment” as Prime Minister.

When Mr Farage returns to the office accompanied by Mrs Badenoch, he queries who Sir Keir is, declaring himself the “big chungus” of the “great United Kingdom and the middle part of Wales”.

They warn they’ll have the Labour party leaders removed from the building by security guards, but Mrs Badenoch jokes: “We deported security.”

The sketch concluded with Al Nash emerging through the prime ministerial time machine portal dressed as Sir Winston Churchill to launch the show, leading into Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham’s opening monologue.

The award-winning actress made light of the “glamorous characters” she has portrayed throughout her career, before displaying pictures of less flattering parts such as her “sexy little turn as the shame nun” in hit TV series Game Of Thrones.

Throughout the episode, Waddingham took part in numerous sketches alongside the show’s inaugural cast, and was accompanied by Stargazing singer Myles Smith as the musical guest. The programme also marked Sir David’s landmark 100th birthday in its weekend news segment, with hosts Ania Magliano and Paddy Young sitting down to interview a rhino (Hammed Animashaun) for their take on the much-loved broadcaster.

The skit descended into mayhem when Sir David (Fouracres) burst onto the scene to grapple with the wild beast after it dared to criticise him.

The Sky Original production is filmed live in London, featuring a rotating guest host each week alongside the show’s regular cast, which comprises actor Hammed Animashaun and comedian Ania Magliano.

SNL UK returns to Sky and Now TV on May 16 for its series finale, with Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa taking the hosting duties, accompanied by musical guest Holly Humberstone.

Saturday Night Live UK is available to watch on Sky and Now TV on Saturdays at 10pm.

May 9 (UPI) — Péter Magyar has been sworn in as Hungary’s new prime minister, ending Viktor Orban’s 16-year, right-wing leadership.

“I will not rule over Hungary — I will serve my country,” Magyar said Saturday after he took the oath of office in parliament, The BBC reported.

Magyar’s Tisza Party now holds 141 out of 199 seats in the parliament. That’s up from none because the party was formed two years ago.

Orbán’s Fidesz party dropped from 135 to 52 seats in the election in April.

Tisza is not a strong swing to the left; Magyar, 44, was once a Fidesz Party operative. But on March 15, 2024, he left the party to join Tisza, then an unknown startup.

Now, Magyar is a center-right politician: not quite a liberal or progressive, and definitely a conservative. But he is pro-Europe and European Union, which Orbán was not.

The EU flag was hung on the Hungarian parliament building for the first time since 2014.

Magyar had invited people to join him to “write Hungarian history” together Saturday and “step through the gate of regime change.” Supporters gathered outside the parliament building, cheering and waving Hungarian flags.

Leftist and liberal parties will have no seats in the parliament for the first time since 1990, when Hungary broke free of the Soviet Union. But Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony said the new regime is still cause for celebration.

“Teachers fired, civilians and journalists humiliated, small churches torn apart,” Karácsony wrote on social media. “We can finally leave this era behind us — but first, let us remember the everyday heroes and express our gratitude with a farewell to the system.”

“This is the first time I feel like it’s good to be Hungarian,” Erzsébet Medve, 68, from Miskolc in northeastern Hungary, told The Guardian. “I feel like I could cry.”

Orbán and the Fidesz government cut education funding in Hungary. “The government had enough money, but they didn’t spend it there,” said Medve, a teacher.

Marianna Szűcs, 70, said she hoped Hungary would become more livable. “Now we feel like our children and grandchildren have a future here.”

New Tisza ministers said that while there will be no revenge against Orban’s people, those guilty of financial crimes will be held accountable. There will be a new office created to “recover stolen assets.”

“I don’t think that we should talk about a guillotine,” said Zoltán Tarr, incoming minister for Social Relations and Culture.

“We are talking about investigations and actions which are totally in line with the rule of law. Interestingly enough, the current chief prosecutor, and the police, have started certain investigations which they did not start before the election. They are questioning people.”

The Magyar government plans to convince the EU to release $20 billion in funds that the EU had held back from the Orbán government.

“I’m not worried, I’m excited,” Tarr said. “We are serving the country. We are serving the people. We are not here to rule. We are here to serve. We are here to fulfill a mandate.”

May 7 (Asia Today) — Japan plans to launch a new National Intelligence Bureau as early as July to centralize intelligence gathering and analysis under the prime minister’s office, a move expected to affect trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan.

The new organization will upgrade the existing Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office into a roughly 700-member agency, with plans to gradually expand staffing by recruiting specialized intelligence personnel and private-sector experts.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japanese government has finalized plans to establish the National Intelligence Bureau this summer with an initial workforce similar in size to the current intelligence office.

Legislation creating the National Intelligence Council, which will serve as the legal basis for the new bureau, was submitted to parliament on March 13 and passed the lower house in April. Deliberations in the upper house are scheduled to begin Thursday.

The new bureau will operate under the prime minister’s office and support the National Intelligence Council, chaired by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

The restructuring marks a major shift from the current system, in which the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office is largely staffed by officials dispatched from agencies such as the National Police Agency and the Foreign Ministry.

Beginning next year, Japan plans to recruit its own career-track intelligence officers through the national civil service examination system.

The government also intends to expand midcareer hiring from the private sector to secure experts with foreign language skills, cybersecurity expertise and advanced internet technologies.

Officials are additionally considering hiring engineers capable of using artificial intelligence to process large volumes of intelligence data more efficiently.

The new agency is expected to oversee intelligence exchanges with foreign services, analysis of overseas developments and responses to disinformation and misinformation on social media platforms.

Japan’s opposition parties have raised concerns about the expansion of surveillance powers and the political neutrality of the organization.

Critics argue the legislation does not clearly define the operational scope of intelligence activities and could lead to infringements on privacy rights and freedom of thought.

Some lawmakers have also warned the new system could pave the way for future legislation on anti-spying measures or the establishment of a full-fledged foreign intelligence service.

For South Korea, the reorganization means Japan’s intelligence-sharing channel within trilateral security cooperation with Washington could become more centralized and influential.

Key security issues already shared among the three countries include North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, Chinese military activities in the East and South China seas, Russian military movements in the Far East, cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.

Analysts said Japan’s strengthened intelligence structure could accelerate the speed of Japanese threat assessments and crisis responses during regional emergencies.

At the same time, South Korea is expected to closely monitor how Japan integrates the new agency into trilateral intelligence-sharing frameworks and whether the reform strengthens Japan’s independent security decision-making role.

The launch of the National Intelligence Bureau could improve coordination on North Korean missile threats while also marking a broader expansion of Japan’s security and intelligence capabilities.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260507010001415