Tucked away in the English countryside is a village of record-breaking proportions. Milo Boyd went to check out if the rumours were true and if he could make it to the other end
(Image: @gkbarry/TIKTOK)
“Is it true what they say about Meopham?” I asked the friendly landlady of the Railway Tavern.
“Of course it is,” she winked, before warning me that I better get going if I was going to make it before the sun went down.
Tucked away just over the Greater London boundary in Kent is a village of record-breaking proportions. It’s not the kind of record that can be found in the Guinness annuals, or is even known by some locals. “No mate,” the man in the kebab shop said when I asked if he knew. “I’ve not heard that one,” a dog walker told me.
Meopham is, according to some sources (including the publican), the longest village in the UK, maybe even in Europe, and possibly the World. From its northernmost tip over the railway tracks to the southernmost end by Wrotham, Meopham stretches seven miles. By way of comparison, Sunderland’s longest side is just under five miles. If you were running the London Marathon, you’d have a Meopham’s length between you and Buckingham Palace as you staggered through Canary Wharf.
On a cold Thursday in November, I set off south from the train station to see if I could take on this mammoth road trip from one end of Meopham to the other.
Straight away, I was met with a row of shops to my left, including the Railway Tavern (the first of four pubs) and a newsagent. A few hundred metres further along, a kebab shop, estate agents, and mechanics appear, followed by a school. Things really get going roughly two miles from the beginning of the village, when the tree-lined A-road opens up into a large green surrounded by two pleasant-looking pubs and crested with a well-poppied war memorial.
With the sun coming down and the temperature falling with it, I cycled on, up the hill, past mile three, four and five, clusters of houses, shops and stables popping up along the way. A little bit further and I had reached maximum altitude – 150 m above sea level – and with it, the end of the village.
There isn’t much to mark the transition from Meopham to whatever lies beyond. Merely a national speed limit road sign and a plastic skeleton hung in a bush, presumably left over from Halloween. But I had made it.
As I stood at the top of the village, gazing down at the countryside beyond, I was left with two prevailing thoughts. The first is that the majority of the UK’s villages are far less quaint than the bucolic image that comes to mind. Certainly, Meopham’s green is pleasant and its pubs look cosy, but the houses are gated whoppers and the road running down its centre delivers a constant smoggy roar that rips through any sense of tranquillity. Most of the British villages I’ve visited have the same problem: namely, too many cars.
The second is that maybe Meopham isn’t actually a single village, but four – Meopham Green, Culverstone, Dodmore and Hook Green – fused together at some point long ago by someone keen for it to be properly on the map.
It’s up to a parish council to officially denote its settlement as a village or not, and at some point in its past, that’s what happened in Meopham. It also happened in Brinkworth in Wiltshire, which makes the same lengthy claim. Although at 4.2 miles, I think we’re safe to ignore that.
All of this leads to a very obvious question: what makes a village a village, and a town a town?
In the settlement hierarchy, the humble hamlet sits at the bottom. It is fairly well established that a hamlet is a small, rural settlement, typically lacking a central church or a village hall. Once it gets a church, it becomes a village.
The progression from town to city is equally uncontroversial. After acquiring a cathedral, a university, and an array of other significant public buildings, large towns may be granted city status by the monarch through a royal charter. That honour was recently bestowed on Doncaster, Wrexham, Milton Keynes, and a few other hefty former towns.
However, what separates a village from a town is not as clear. While you might think the UK would have a solid definition by now, neither the National Planning Policy Framework nor the national planning practice guidance provides one. “Instead, we’re left with a delightful mix of historical interpretations, local authority classifications, and the occasional dictionary reference,” notes planning organisation Land Tech.
The House of Commons Library’s research briefing City & Town Classification of Constituencies & Local Authorities (2018) attempted to shed some light on the different classifications with the following population guides:
Villages and small communities: Under 7,500 residents
Small towns: 7,500 to 24,999 residents
Medium towns: 25,000 to 59,999 residents
Large towns: 60,000 to 174,999 residents
Cities: 175,000+ residents
However, this isn’t a hard and fast system, as many cities have tiny populations – such as the famously svelte St Davids in Wales – and the fact that recent Green Belt guidance from the Government carves out loads of exceptions for planning.
With all of this in mind, we have to wonder if we should hear the uncertainty in Meopham Parish Council’s voice when it reports that the village is “said to be the longest in England.” Would the cottage-dwelling Hook Green-ites in the very north of Meopham really count themselves the same as the mid-century modernists way down in Culverstone Green? I’m not so sure.
In a fiery rebuttal to allegations he’d criminally misrepresented facts in his mortgage documents, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) sued Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte on Tuesday — accusing him of criminally misusing government databases to baselessly target President Trump’s political opponents.
“Pulte has abused his position by scouring databases at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — two government-sponsored enterprises — for the private mortgage records of several prominent Democrats,” attorneys for Swalwell wrote in a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. “He then used those records to concoct fanciful allegations of mortgage fraud, which he referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”
Pulte’s attack, Swalwell’s attorneys wrote, “was not only a gross mischaracterization of reality” but “a gross abuse of power that violated the law,” infringing on Swalwell’s free speech rights to criticize the president without fear of reprisal, and violating the Privacy Act of 1974, which they said bars federal officials from “leveraging their access to citizens’ private information as a tool for harming their political opponents.”
Pulte, the FHFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Pulte has previously defended his work probing mortgage documents of prominent Democrats, saying no one is above the law. His referrals have exclusively targeted Democrats, despite reporting on Republicans taking similar actions on their mortgages.
Swalwell’s lawsuit is the latest counterpunch to Pulte’s campaign, and part of mounting scrutiny over its unprecedented nature and unorthodox methods — not just from targets of his probes but from other investigators, too, according to one witness.
In addition to Swalwell, Pulte has referred mortgage fraud allegations to the Justice Department against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who have all denied wrongdoing and suggested the allegations amount to little more than political retribution.
James was criminally charged by an inexperienced, loyalist federal prosecutor specially appointed by Trump in Virginia, though a judge has since thrown out that case on the grounds that the prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed. The judge also threw out a case against former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump opponent.
Cook’s attorneys slammed Pulte in a letter to the Justice Department, writing that his “decision to use the FHFA to selectively — and publicly — investigate and target the President’s designated political enemies gives rise to the unmistakable impression that he has been improperly coordinating with the White House to manufacture flimsy predicates to launch these probes.”
Schiff also has lambasted Trump and Pulte for their targeting of him and other Democrats, and cheered the tossing of the cases against James and Comey, calling it “a triumph of the rule of law.”
In recent days, federal prosecutors in Maryland — where Schiff’s case is being investigated — have also started asking questions about the actions of Pulte and other Trump officials, according to Christine Bish, a Sacramento-area real estate agent and Republican congressional candidate who was summoned to Maryland to answer questions in the matter last week.
Pulte has alleged that Schiff broke the law by claiming primary residence for mortgages in both Maryland and California. Schiff has said he never broke any law and was always forthcoming with his mortgage lenders.
Bish has been investigating Schiff’s mortgage records since 2020, and had repeatedly submitted documents about Schiff to the federal government — first to the Office of Congressional Ethics, then earlier this year to an FHFA tip line and to the FBI, she told The Times.
When Trump subsequently posted one of Schiff’s mortgage documents to his Truth Social platform, Bish said she believed it was one she had submitted to the FHFA and FBI, because it was highlighted exactly as she had highlighted it. Then, she saw she had missed a call from Pulte, and was later asked by Pulte’s staff to email Pulte “the full file” she had worked up on Schiff.
“They wanted to make sure that I had sent the whole file,” Bish said.
Bish said she was subsequently interviewed via Google Meet on Oct. 22 by someone from the FHFA inspector general’s office and an FBI agent. She then got a subpoena in the mail that she interpreted as requiring her to be in Maryland last week. There, she was interviewed again, for about an hour, by the same official from the inspector general’s office and another FBI agent, she said — and was surprised their questions seemed more focused on her communications with people in the federal government than on Schiff.
“They wanted to know if I had been talking to anybody else,” she said. “You know, what did I communicate? Who did I communicate with?”
Schiff’s office declined to comment. However, Schiff’s attorney has previously told Justice Department officials that there was “ample basis” for them to launch an investigation into Pulte and his campaign targeting Trump’s opponents, calling it a “highly irregular” and “sordid” effort.
The acting FHFA inspector general at the time Bish was first contacted, Joe Allen, has since been fired, which has also raised questions.
On Nov. 19, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) — the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee — wrote a letter to Pulte denouncing his probes as politically motivated, questioning Allen’s dismissal and demanding documentation from Pulte, including any communications he has had with the White House.
Swalwell’s attorneys wrote in Tuesday’s lawsuit that he never claimed primary residence in both California and Washington, D.C., as alleged, and had not broken any laws.
They accused Pulte of orchestrating a coordinated effort to spread the allegations against Swalwell via a vast network of conservative influencers, which they said had “harmed [Swalwell’s] reputation at a critical juncture in his career: the very moment when he had planned to announce his campaign for Governor of California.”
They said the “widespread publication of information about the home where his wife and young children reside” had also “exposed him to heightened security risks and caused him significant anguish and distress.”
Swalwell said in a statement that Pulte has “combed through private records of political opponents” to “silence them,” which shouldn’t be allowed.
“There’s a reason the First Amendment — the freedom of speech — comes before all others,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media after visiting the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel in October. Marco Rubio, pictured speaking to the media in Israel last month, is in Switzerland to help broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. File pool Photo by Fadel Senna/UPI | License Photo
Nov. 23 (UPI) — Talks between the United States and Ukraine in Switzerland have been the “most productive and meaningful so far,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday.
Officials from both countries are meeting in Switzerland as the United States works to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine in the latest chapter of war between the two counties, which has dragged on since early 2022.
Ukrainian and Russian officials have presented the draft of a 28-point plan aimed at ending the war. President Donald Trump has said he wants Ukraine to agree to the deal by Thursday, the BBC reported.
The plan suggests that Russia could be given more Ukrainian territory than it currently holds, puts limits on Ukraine’s army and prevents Ukraine from even becoming a member of NATO. These conditions hew very closely to Moscow’s demands for peace.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a social media post Sunday that European leaders stand ready to reach a deal “despite some reservations,” but said “Before we start our work, it would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”
A bipartisan group U.S. Senators told reporters that Rubio told them the deal was not authored by the United States, nor was it the sole position of the Trump administration, but a proposal drafted by Russia and given to U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, NBC News reported.
Sen. Angus King, I-Me., said the plan appeared to be a “wish list of the Russians.”
Later, the U.S. State Department countered that claim, called King’s words “patently false,” and said the plan was indeed, the position of the Trump administration.
“The peace proposal was authored by the U.S.,” Rubio wrote on social media Saturday night. “It is based on input from the Russian side. But it is also based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”
The plan proposes that areas of Ukraine’s Donbas region still under Ukrainian control are ceded to Russia, that Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk are recognized as Russian territory by the United States and that Ukraine will reduce the number of troops in the region to 600,000.
Perhaps most controversially, the proposals also calls for Russia “to be reintegrated into the global economy” and be invited to rejoin the G8, an international forum for leaders of the world’s eight most industrialized nations.
President Donald Trump meets with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on Friday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
Bullseye returned to ITV earlier this month with Freddie Flintoff as host
Bullseye is back for another fun episode on Sunday night as three more pairs made up of keen darts player and quizzing partners compete against one another to win points and prizes.
Hosted by Freddie Flintoff, this weekend’s episode sees professional darts player Fallon Sherrock team up with Freddie, 47, to try to complete a charity challenge.
In an exclusive clip obtained by the Mirror of this Sunday’s episode, it sees a simple Coronation Street question cause confusion amongst the players.
Freddie asks: “The winner of Celebrity Big Brother in 2025, Jack P Shepherd, is a star of what soap?” to which contestant, Scott, wrongly guesses: “EastEnders?”
Freddie is quick to respond that his answer is sadly incorrect as he then asks the same question to the fellow players, Brian and Stuart.
Brian is quick to buzz in but before he can give his answer he hilariously admits: “What was the question?”, leaving the audience in hysterics while a confused Freddie responds: “Hey?”
However, Brian quickly remembers the questions and delivers the correct answer of Coronation Street.
It comes as Bullseye has returned for a new series and a 2025 Christmas special following last year’s one-off Bullseye festive special, which drew in audiences of over 8.6 million.
The original Bullseye aired from 1982 until 1995 and was hosted by the late Jim Bowen.
Meanwhile, Freddie will not be using his real name as the former England cricketer hosts the ITV quiz show.
The 47-year-old has always gone by Freddie but is actually named Andrew.
Cricket icon Flintoff has always been known as Freddie ever since his school days. He was given the nickname because his surname was similar to that of cartoon character Fred Flintstone.
“It’s strange, isn’t it? Because obviously, my name is Andrew, and then – since I was about 15 – I’ve just been called Fred or Freddie,” he said in a self-titled documentary on Disney+.
“Because Andrew is probably more a reflection of me. Quite introverted. Just like his own space.
“But that would never have survived the world of professional sport. I knew that pretty quickly.”
President Trump’s pledge to terminate temporary legal protections for Somalis living in Minnesota is triggering fear in the state’s deeply rooted immigrant community, along with doubts about whether the White House has the legal authority to enact the directive as described.
In a social media post late Friday, Trump said he would “immediately” strip Somali residents in Minnesota of Temporary Protected Status, a legal safeguard against deportation for immigrants from certain countries.
The announcement was immediately challenged by some state leaders and immigration experts, who characterized Trump’s declaration as a legally dubious effort to sow fear and suspicion toward Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest in the nation.
“There’s no legal mechanism that allows the president to terminate protected status for a particular community or state that he has beef with,” said Heidi Altman, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center.
“This is Trump doing what he always does: demagoguing immigrants without justification or evidence and using that demagoguery in an attempt to take away important life-saving protections,” she added.
The protection has been extended 27 times for Somalis since 1991, with U.S. authorities determining that it was unsafe for people already in the United States to return to Somalia.
The Trump administration could, however, move to revoke the legal protection for Somalis nationally. But that move would affect only a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Somalis living in Minnesota. A report produced for Congress in August put the number of Somalis covered by TPS at 705 nationwide.
“I am a citizen and so are [the] majority of Somalis in America,” Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat born in Somalia, said in a social media post Friday. “Good luck celebrating a policy change that really doesn’t have much impact on the Somalis you love to hate.”
Still, advocates warned the move could inflame hate against a community at a time of rising Islamophobia.
“This is not just a bureaucratic change,” said Jaylani Hussein, president of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It is a political attack on the Somali and Muslim community driven by Islamophobic and hateful rhetoric.”
In his social media post, Trump claimed, without offering evidence, that Somali gangs had targeted Minnesota residents and referred to the state as a “hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
Federal prosecutors have in recent weeks brought charges against dozens of people in a social-services fraud scheme. Some of the defendants are from Somalia.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, has noted that Minnesota consistently ranks among the safest states in the country.
“It’s not surprising that the president has chosen to broadly target an entire community,” Walz said Friday. “This is what he does to change the subject.”
Community advocates say that the Somali diaspora in Minnesota has helped to revitalize downtown corridors in Minneapolis and plays a prominent role in the state’s politics.
“The truth is that the Somali community is beloved and long-woven into the fabric of many neighborhoods and communities in Minnesota,” Altman said. “Destabilizing families and communities makes all of us less safe and not more.”
As part of a broader push to adopt hard-line immigration policies, the Trump administration has moved to withdraw various protections that had allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally.
That included ending TPS for 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians who were granted protection under former President Biden. The Trump administration has also sought to limit protections previously extended to migrants from Cuba and Syria, among other countries.
As California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta ponders a run for governor, he faces scrutiny for his ties to people central to a federal corruption investigation in Oakland and payments to private attorneys.
Bonta has not been accused of impropriety, but the questions come at an inopportune time for Democrat, who says he is reassessing a gubernatorial bid after repeatedly dismissing a run earlier this year.
Bonta said the decisions by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla not to seek the office altered the contours of the race.
“I had two horses in the governor’s race already,” Bonta said in an interview with The Times on Friday. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is fundamentally different today, right?”
Bonta said he has received significant encouragement to join the crowded gubernatorial field and that he expects to make a decision “definitely sooner rather than later.” Political advisors to the 54-year-old Alameda politician have been reaching out to powerful Democrats across the state to gauge his possible support.
Historically, serving as California attorney general has been a launching pad to higher office or a top post in Washington. Harris, elected to two terms as the state attorney general, was later elected to the U.S. Senate and then as vice president. Jerry Brown served in the post before voters elected him for a second go-around as governor in 2010. Earl Warren later became the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
Bonta, the first Filipino American to serve as the state’s top law enforcement official, was appointed in March 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom after Xavier Becerra resigned to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Bonta easily won election as attorney general in 2022.
Bonta was a deputy city attorney in San Francisco and vice mayor for the city of Alameda before being elected to the state Assembly in 2012. During his tenure representing the Alameda area, Bonta developed a reputation as a progressive willing to push policies to strengthen tenants’ rights and to reform the criminal justice system.
In his role as the state’s top law enforcement official, Bonta has aggressively fought President Trump’s policies and actions, filing 46 lawsuits against the administration.
Bonta also faced controversy this past week in what Bonta’s advisers say they suspect is an attempt to damage him as he considers a potential run.
“Political hacks understand it’s actually a badge of respect, almost an endorsement. Clearly others fear him,” said veteran Democratic strategist Dan Newman, a Bonta adviser.
On Monday, KCRA reported that Bonta had spent nearly $500,000 in campaign funds last year on personal lawyers to represent him in dealings with federal investigators working on a public corruption probe in Oakland.
On Thursday, the website East Bay Insider reported that as that probe was heating up in spring 2024, Bonta had received a letter from an Oakland businessman warning him that he might soon be subject to blackmail.
The letter writer, Mario Juarez, warned Bonta that another businessman, Andy Duong, possessed “a recording of you in a compromising situation.”
Duong was later indicted, along with his father David Duong and former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, on federal bribery charges. All have pleaded not guilty. An attorney for David Duong this week said that Juarez, who is widely believed to be an informant in the case against the Duongs and Thao, was not credible. Juarez could not be reached for comment.
Bonta said his legal expenditures came about after he began speaking with the U.S. Attorney’s office, who approached him because prosecutors thought he could be a victim of blackmail or extortion. Bonta said the outreach came after he already had turned over the letter he had received from Juarez to law enforcement.
Bonta said he hired lawyers to help him review information in his possession that could be helpful to federal investigators.
“I wanted to get them all the information that they wanted, that they needed, give it to him as fast as as I could, to assist, to help,” Bonta said. “Maybe I had a puzzle piece or two that could assist them in their investigation.”
He said he may have made “an audible gasp” when he saw the legal bill, but that it was necessary to quickly turn over all documents and communications that could be relevant to the federal investigation.
“The billing rate is high or not insignificant at private law firms,” Bonta said. “We were moving quickly to be as responsive as possible, to be as helpful as possible, to assist as as much as possible, and that meant multiple attorneys working a lot of hours.”
Bonta said the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission also has alerted him that it received a complaint against him. Bonta and his advisers believe is about the use of campaign funds to pay the legal expenses and suspect it was filed by the campaign of a current gubernatorial candidate.
“We’re not worried,” Bonta said. “That’s politics.”
Asked whether these news stories could create obstacles to a potential gubernatorial campaign, Bonta pushed back against any assertion that he may have “baggage.” He said he was assisting federal prosecutors with their investigation with the hopes of holding people accountable.
“That’s what I would expect anyone to do, certainly someone who is committed as I am to public safety.,” he said. “That’s my job, to assist, to support, to provide information, to help.”
In October of 2018, U.S.-based journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered inside Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Istanbul, Turkey. The CIA concluded that the assassination was carried out by Saudi operatives, on order of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The prince denied the accusations, although other U.S. intelligence agencies later made the same formal assessment.
Tuesday, President Trump showered the Saudi leader with praise during his first invitation to the White House since the killing. “We’ve been really good friends for a long period of time,” said Trump. “We’ve always been on the same side of every issue.”
Clearly. Their shared disdain — and fear — of a free press was evident, from downplaying the killing of Khashoggi to snapping at ABC News reporter Mary Bruce when she asked about his murder.
“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” Trump said, then he proceeded to debase a journalist who wasn’t there to report on the event because he’d been silenced, forever. Referring to Khashoggi, he said, “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”
Mohammed bin Salman, left, and Jamal Khashoggi.
(Associated Press / Tribune News Service)
Fender-benders happen. Spilled milk happens. But the orchestrated assassination of a journalist by a regime that he covers is not one of those “things” that just happen. It’s an orchestrated hit meant to silence critics, control the narrative and bury whatever corruption, human rights abuses or malfeasance that a healthy free press is meant to expose.
Bruce did what a competent reporter is supposed to do. She deviated from Tuesday’s up-with-Saudi-Arabia! agenda to ask the hard questions of powerful men not used to being questioned about anything, let alone murder. The meeting was meant to highlight the oil-rich country’s investment in the U.S. economy, and at Trump’s prompting, Prince Mohammed said those investments could total $1 trillion.
Prince Mohammed addressed the death of Khashoggi by saying his country hopes to do better in the future, whatever that means. “It’s painful and it’s a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
And just in case the two men hadn’t made clear how little they cared about the slain journalist, and how much they disdain the news media, Trump drove those points home when he referred to Bruce’s query as “a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question.” He suggesting that ABC should lose its broadcasting license.
Trump confirmed Tuesday that he intends to sell “top of the line” F-35 stealth fighter jets to Riyadh. It’s worth noting that the team of 15 Saudi agents allegedly involved in Khashoggi’s murder flew to Istanbul on government aircraft. The reporter was lured to the Saudi embassy to pick up documents that were needed for his planned marriage to a Turkish woman.
The prince knew nothing about it, said Trump on Tuesday, despite the findings of a 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that cited “the direct involvement of a key adviser and members of Mohammad bin Salman’s protective detail.” It concluded that it was “highly unlikely that Saudi officials would have carried out an operation of this nature without the Crown Prince’s authorization.”
To no one’s surprise, the Saudi government had tried to dodge the issue before claiming Khashoggi had been killed by rogue officials, insisting that the slaying and dismemberment was not premeditated. They offered no explanation of how a bonesaw just happened to be available inside the embassy.
President Trump shakes hands with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House in 2018.
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Five men were sentenced to death, but one of Khashoggi’s sons later announced that the family had forgiven the killers, which, in accordance with Islamic law, spared them from execution.
The president’s castigation of ABC’s Bruce was the second time in a week that he has ripped into a female journalist when she asked a “tough” question (i.e. anything Newsmax won’t ask). Trump was speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One last Friday when Bloomberg News’ Catherine Lucey asked him follow-up question about the Epstein files. The president replied, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy.”
Trump’s contempt for the press was clear, but so was something else he shares with the crown prince, Hungary’s Victor Orban and Vladimir Putin: The president doesn’t just hate the press. He fears it.
There hasn’t been a “substantiated” allegation of sexual abuse by staff against an inmate in the nation’s largest jail system since 2021.
At first glance, the statistic — based on Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department data — might appear to indicate that a federal law called the Prison Rape Elimination Act has finally accomplished its mission more than two decades after it was enacted by Congress.
But a broad array of local oversight officials and advocacy groups are raising eyebrows over the claim, and bringing new scrutiny to how the Sheriff’s Department investigates allegations of sexual abuse made by inmates against their jailers.
L.A. County incarcerates about 13,000 people — including roughly 1,500 women — throughout its network of jails watched over by sheriff’s deputies.
Sheriff’s Department records show that between January 2022 and September 2025, inmates filed 592 allegations of abuse and harassment against staff. None were deemed “substantiated,” which the Sheriff’s Department defines on its website as “an allegation that was investigated and determined to have occurred.”
The suggestion that there has not been enough evidence to support even one alleged incident by staff against an inmate in nearly four years has struck some tasked with monitoring the Sheriff’s Department as absurd.
“When you have this many complaints and you have zero that are founded, there is something wrong with the process,” said George B. Newhouse, a member of the L.A. Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission.
L.A. County’s Office of Inspector General and advocacy groups, including the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and Peace Over Violence, also shared concerns about the lack of substantiated allegations during a Nov. 4 virtual discussion of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA. The law was enacted in 2003 in an effort to reduce widespread sexual abuse behind bars.
In 2012, the federal government instituted a set of rules known as PREA standards, which laid out steps that jail and prison operators are required to take to prevent and reduce sexual abuse and harassment between inmates and staff.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Ryan Vaccaro said the department “has zero tolerance for sexual abuse and sexual harassment.” He added that monthly town hall meetings are held in jails to educate inmates about PREA and record any questions and complaints they have about the federal standards.
“Our team is dedicated to ensuring our residents know we have a zero-tolerance policy and know how to get help when they need it,” he said. “All PREA allegations are documented and processed promptly, thoroughly and objectively.”
During a public meeting last month, Hans Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, pressed John Barkley, assistant director and PREA coordinator at the Sheriff’s Department, to explain the lack of substantiated reports, and how long it typically takes for allegations to be investigated.
Dozens of the harassment and abuse claims identified in the sheriff’s department records are listed as “pending,” which the department defines on its website as an “allegation still under investigation.”
“It kind of beggars credulity that that number of complaints could be raised and that none could be substantiated,” Johnson said. “It’s just a red flag.”
Barkley said “every case is investigated” and found to be either “substantiated, unsubstantiated or unfounded.” He said “every situation is different. The thing that we’re mandated to do is to do the investigation promptly and to do it thoroughly.”
In a statement a colleague read aloud at the Nov. 4 forum, Portland, Ore., resident Frank Mendoza said that while he was incarcerated at L.A.’s Twin Towers Correctional Facility in 2006, “officers at the jail repeatedly harassed me because I was openly gay” and one beat and raped him in his cell.
“I was then left in the cell naked, bloodied, and completely humiliated,” Mendoza said in his statement. “I tried to report what happened. First, I told the officer on the next shift who found me on the floor of my cell, and all he did was order me to get dressed. That was the norm. Officers didn’t tell on one another.”
Mendoza alleged he wasn’t provided medical treatment or examined for injuries caused by the assault. When he reported the rape, he found that “without a forensic exam, it was impossible to build a criminal case.”
Now, Mendoza gives voice to other people who have been victims of sexual abuse and harassment while incarcerated through his advocacy work as a member of Just Detention International’s Survivor Council.
“It’s clear the county still has a lot of work to do to ensure the safety of people in detention,” he said. “At the same time, the fact that such a hearing is happening is evidence to me of a culture shift and that people are listening.”
The Sheriff’s Department also tracks inmate-on-inmate allegations, which accounted for 296 reports of sexual abuse or harassment between January 2022 and June 2025. Of those, 28 were classified as “substantiated.”
The numbers have spiked since then, with 82 inmate-on-inmate allegations between July and September 2025. Of those claims, the department deemed five involving sexual abuse to be “substantiated,” along with another five claims of sexual harassment.
During that three-month period, inmates made 121 sexual abuse and harassment claims against staff, none of which have been identified as “substantiated” by the Sheriff’s Department.
Arthur Calloway, co-vice-chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, asked at the October meeting whether the sheriff’s department could be trusted to investigate inmate claims against its own employees.
He added that, “if it was all objective, there would be some substantiated ones actually to trickle out” from claims filed since January 2022.
Barkley responded that “many of those” unsubstantiated outcomes are “dictated on whether the D.A. takes the case.” He added that “if the D.A. decides that they’re not going to prosecute the case with inmate-on-inmate, then it is going to be an unsubstantiated.”
The L.A. County district attorney’s office said in a statement that the Sheriff’s Department first conducts internal investigations of allegations of criminal activity. Then, the department “may present their investigation to our Justice System Integrity Division (JSID) to determine whether criminal charges should be filed,” the statement said.
The Sheriff’s Department can also opt “to discipline their employee administratively in addition to, or in lieu of, seeking criminal charges,” the statement said.
The prosecutor’s office noted that substantiated and unsubstantiated are terms used by the Sheriff’s Department for “administrative purposes,” not legal outcomes.
“JSID reviews all cases presented to them by law enforcement using the standard of whether charges can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” the D.A.’s office said.
The Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that sexual abuse cases are investigated internally and that when they are “determined to meet the elements of a crime,” they “are submitted to the District Attorney’s Office.”
The department said that since January 2022, four such cases “resulted in administrative investigations and five were/are being investigated by” the department’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau. None of those have been deemed “substantiated.”
“Substantiated allegations, often require cooperation and some sort of evidence, which can make them more challenging,” the Sheriff’s Department said. “However, unsubstantiated allegations are more common because it has a lower threshold.”
Dara Williams, assistant inspector general, said it “would be much better if all complaints were investigated by people who were outside the chain of command.”
Otherwise, she said, when sheriff’s department employees are the ones determining “what triggers an investigation, there is some bias.”
Inspector General Max Huntsman told The Times that he believes the Sheriff’s Department is “not in compliance with PREA in many senses,” such as its internal policies and the physical state of its aging correctional facilities.
At the public meeting last month, Barkley, the PREA coordinator at the Sheriff’s Department, explained that a sergeant must record every sexual abuse and harassment allegation in a dedicated database by the end of the shift when it is received. After that, he said, the allegation is automatically sent to sheriff’s leaders and the inspector general’s office.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Johnson, the chair of the Civilian Oversight Commission, called on the Sheriff’s Department to take steps to ensure it is conducting fair and thorough reviews of all inmate allegations.
“It is unacceptable to have no substantiated cases reported,” he said.
One of the best resorts in Wales is arguably one of the most family-oriented, but is it suitable for an adults-only break?
10:53, 11 Nov 2025Updated 10:54, 11 Nov 2025
When I went on an adults-only trip to one of UK’s best family holiday parks everyone asked me 1 question(Image: Portia Jones )
It was recently named the number one holiday park in Wales and third in the entire UK by Which? Magazine for the third year running. But is it suitable for an adults-only break?
The 5-star luxury holiday destination, Bluestone Wales, is set within 500 acres of glorious Welsh countryside in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, and easily rivals Center Parcs for British breaks. It’s hugely popular for summer holidays and weekend breaks, and families arrive in droves to enjoy a wide array of facilities, including a subtropical indoor water park and a pastel-coloured village with a pub, playground, cafes, and a shop.
I’d always wanted to visit, but there was one small issue: I don’t have children. “Who goes to a holiday park without kids?” my bewildered parent friends asked. We came in the off-season, when the unpredictable Welsh weather could go either way, and the question was simple: would Bluestone feel awkward for adults on a child-free break, or could two grown-ups have a perfectly lovely time without a single Jellycat in sight?
Check-in
After a breezy two-hour journey from Cardiff, the drive up check-in was impressively quick and efficient. I was expecting 4-mile tailbacks getting in.
Guests can enjoy the site’s facilities from 11am, which breaks up arrivals and is ideal for parents desperate to plonk the kids in the pool after an arduous car journey. We were directed to the ‘arrivals lodge’, where a smiling staff team presented us with our key cards and digital welcome pack and sent us off for our golf cart briefing and collection.
The lodge
We’d been assigned one of the resort’s fancier options, the Solva Lodge, located in a quiet, suburb-like corner of the park dotted with colourful cottages and large cabin-style lodges. The resort’s accommodation offerings really have considered every group size and budget.
Our swish, single-storey lodge frankly surpassed my expectations. It had spacious open-plan living, bi-fold doors, a master bedroom with an en-suite, and a private patio.
It also had a well-equipped kitchen complete with everything one could need for self-catering, from ample plates and cooking utensils to a dishwasher and microwave. I couldn’t wait to assemble a bougie charcuterie board.
Frankly, it was way fancier than I was expecting from a British holiday park. As an elder millennial, most of my holiday park experience came in the form of a bargain, caravan-style ‘Sun Holiday’, paid for in tokens from the paper.
The site
Before we could even unpack, we needed a game plan. Where does one begin in a vast holiday park filled with family-friendly activities?
Do you hit the waterpark first? Or stake out the spa for a soak and a glass of fizz? We compromised, a slow exploratory lap around the resort in the golf buggy, waving at fellow guests, like giddy retirees on a joyride.
You’ll need a buggy to get around the largely car-free site. Bluestone is enormous, with lakes, woodland, an activity ‘hive’, a tropical pool, and a cutesy pastel-coloured village to navigate. Just be sure to follow the one-way system, or you’ll have to reverse up a hill at 5 miles an hour like we had to.
The pool
After unpacking, we decided to brave the pool for our first ‘holiday activity’ and braced ourselves for battling with kids for first dibs on the flumes.
Bluestone’s ‘Subtropical Paradise’ is one of the resort’s main highlights, and it’s easy to see why. Cocooned by a wooden roof shaped like an upturned coracle, it’s a balmy all-weather hub with a large, temperature-controlled pool, a lazy river, flumes, spa pools, and a ‘Nippers Cove’ for the kids.
For families, there are bookable swim classes, including ‘water babies’ for children under three, and there’s a lively ‘pirate takeover’ with music and inflatables that sounds joyous.
Kids who are confident swimmers can also try the popular ‘Merschool’, where they’ll be transformed into mermaids. I was tempted to ask what the age limit was for this.
We arrived at the pool in the late afternoon, peak time for throwing the kids in the waves to burn off energy, so we fully expected a ‘last days of Rome’ situation, but with more rubber rings.
We were pleasantly surprised that several adults appeared to be swimming without kids, and the ambience was very chill. It was really rather calm for a holiday resort pool, another bonus for visiting off-peak.
Admittedly, you can feel self-conscious at first, entering a vast family pool without a couple of kids in tow, but after the first rounds of waves, we were soon bobbing on the lazy river and doing half-assed lengths for ‘fitness’.
Outside, there were warm spa pools, where we sat with several parents who had stolen a few moments to enjoy blissful Cocomelon-free silence.
“I left them with their dad in the waves”, a mother whispered to me. “He’ll cope.” I nodded in solidarity, as if I, too, had a child somewhere being supervised by a bearded hipster dad with a pool noodle.
There were still children, obviously; it’s not suddenly an adults-only lido, but the ratio was in our favour. During our swim session, we witnessed no full-scale shrieking water fights, lifeguards shouting into megaphones, or pool evacuating ‘faecal incidents’, the horror!
There was just a gentle background soundtrack of splashing and kids having a marvellous time on the flumes. Off-peak Bluestone, it turns out, is remarkably chill, and we scheduled more ‘pool time’ into our weekend plans.
The pub
After the swim, it was naturally time for the pub, so we dropped the buggy back at the lodge (Bluestone frowns upon drink-driving golf carts) and walked to The Knights Tafarn, in the heart of the resort’s twee village.
Located near the kids’ playground, this pub has proper ‘family vibes’, with pub grub classics like burgers, curries, sausage and mash, along with a decent children’s menu.
We sat outside in the rare Welsh sunshine, sipping Bluestone’s own G&Ts (yup, they even make their own gin here) while a live reggae band jammed.
Children bopped along, jovial parents queued patiently for the very affordable hog roast, and the wholesome atmosphere was akin to a modern, middle-class version of Hi-de-Hi! No wonder families enjoy coming here.
Places to eat
There are several eating options at Bluestone, including Oak Tree Restaurant, which serves Italian classics “made with Welsh love,” the family-friendly Farmhouse Grill, and the nutrition-focused NRG Lab Café, located in the Hive.
Over at the Black Pool Mill, you’ll be treated to dishes created from some of Pembrokeshire’s best produce. Located off the Bluestone resort in leafy Minwear Wood, this ‘heritage dining experience’ was once the site of an 18th-century iron furnace and forge.
The Grade II* listed Georgian building was built to use water power to grind wheat for flour. Machinery inside the building was installed in 1901 and has been preserved as part of Pembrokeshire’s industrial heritage.
There is a selection of snacks, sandwiches, and small plates, utilising fresh produce and seasonal ingredients sourced from the local area. The standout, in my opinion, is the upscale Sunday Lunch, which starts at £26 for two courses that we decided to sample, for journalistic purposes.
Starters set the tone: beef cheek croquettes with lasagne mayo (yes, that’s a thing and yes, it works), parmesan crackling and red pepper, or courgette pakoras with lime pickle mayo, coriander and mango gel.
For meat lovers, the headline act is the roasted Welsh topside of beef: perfectly pink, as it should be. In my opinion, well-done beef is a culinary war crime and should lead to kitchen banishment.
My Yorkshire pudding was decently sized and accompanied by maple-glazed root vegetables, roast potatoes, seasonal greens, and swede and sweet potato mash. The gravy-to-meat ratio was also spot on, which, as far as I’m concerned, is the true test of any roast.
My husband opted for roasted Welsh pork loin with sausage and herb stuffing and declared it “the best decision I’ve ever made,” which I’m trying not to take personally.
Having been on many trips with kids present, I think the obvious bonus of an adults-only break is that you can eat when you want (I know, a radical concept).
There are no militant mealtimes dictated by toddlers who must dine at 5:01 sharp lest civilisation collapse. Instead, you can book a table for 8 p.m. and eat at a reasonable hour.
You’ll need to bring your appetite for this lunch. It was so filling that we cancelled our post-lunch swim in favour of a nap, which is possibly the most middle-aged sentence I’ve ever written.
The spa
Between coffee shop visits, walks and lazy mornings, we managed to fit in a few more ‘grown-up’ pursuits at Bluestone, starting with The Well Spa Retreat.
Delivered by an award-winning team of therapists, this swish spa is suitable for individuals 14 years old plus and is an indulgent escape for adults who need some me time. Upon arrival, you’re handed a towel and a plush robe, which immediately elevates you from holiday-goer to spa royalty.
This is where I find myself on a Saturday afternoon. Instead of emerging from under the duvet sporting a raging hangover like I used to in my 20s, I’m in a spa ‘sea salt cave’.
As much as I used to roll my eyes at anything I perceived as woo-woo, I’m now part of a growing cohort concerned with wellness, and instead of slamming sambuca shots, I now book sauna sessions and ice bath dips like a budget Gwyneth Paltrow. Nineteen-year-old me is judging so hard.
As a spa convert, I have to say I’m impressed. The Celtic Thermal Suite is clearly the centrepiece: a series of six interconnected pods that invite you to hop between hot, cold, and steamy experiences with your crew.
One minute you’re inhaling herbal scents in a steaming room, the next you’re rubbing ice over your limbs in the chilly ice Pod, before heading into a brick sauna or the intense Celtic Sauna infused with the subtle scent of Pembrokeshire bracken.
It’s a circuit designed to awaken, detoxify, and recalibrate your body, though, in practice, it mostly feels like gloriously permitted laziness. Mist, heat, ice, repeat, followed by a glass of fizz, for wellness.
During my sauna and steam hopping, my mind floated somewhere between a meditative state and a mild panic about whether my mascara was sliding off my face, as I had, of course, forgotten to remove it.
Every pore was open for business. I was sweating from places I didn’t even know had sweat glands. But I felt something like peace, or possibly dehydration, in that moment. Either way, it worked. I was full of zen and really in the market for a glass of prosecco or a very reasonably priced cocktail.
Want further indulgence? Treatments are an optional extra but worth every penny. You can book everything from bamboo massages and deluxe pedicures to signature massages, personalised facials, or the indulgent seaweed bath experience.
We chose the seaweed bath and emerged feeling fully human again, less swamp creature and more vaguely elegant adult. The bath is infused with Welsh sea salt and over eighty-five pure minerals, plus sustainably hand-harvested seaweed from the Pembrokeshire coast by Câr-y-Môr.
The experience detoxifies, improves skin tone, and moisturises like nothing else. It’s anti-ageing, anti-cellulite, and supremely relaxing, all in one steaming, mineral-rich tub. What a lovely treat.
Outside, the hydrotherapy pool is where the real magic happens. It has warm water, gentle jets, and, crucially, no children yelling “I did a wee in the pool.” It’s blissfully serene.
Around us, other adults were clearly unwinding too, even though the hen party was restrained, and no dodgy inflatables or body glitter were in sight.
For a while, the only soundtrack was the faint hum of jets, bubbles, and the occasional sigh of absolute contentment. By the time we left, slightly pruney and fully restored, it was obvious why the spa is a top highlight for Bluestone visitors.
Other activities
Outside of the spa, there are other wholesome wellness activities to enjoy, including scenic woodland trails to stomp along. Clearly, as a holiday resort, most of the activities here are family-oriented. There is archery, laser tag, kayaking, biking and bowling.
Many activities are centred around ‘The Hive’, an indoor play and activity hub that will keep the kids entertained for hours. There’s messy play, soft play, a play tower, an airmaze, and a multi-court arena for ball games.
The Serendome is equally impressive. Housed under a giant transparent dome, this unique indoor-outdoor adventure play area offers high-thrill activities like an aerial ‘sky walk’ consisting of a climbing frame built over seven towers with 24 bespoke climbing stations spread across three levels.
As we passed by, I felt a pang of envy. Back in my day, ‘holiday park entertainment’ meant a patchy lawn, a rusty swing set, and a strong imagination. Serendome would have blown my mind as an eight-year-old.
We decided to try kayaking, as it seemed like the most appropriate activity without children in tow. Obviously, the ‘air maze’ would have been my first choice. It sounds bloody amazing.
Kayaking and SUP sessions take place on the serene waters of Bluestone’s private lake, which is surrounded by beautiful wildlife and woodland.
There was a strong family vibe as we set off from the dock, as endlessly patient parents guided cute and delightfully uncooperative kids around the lake. “No, we mustn’t stoke the ducks, Hugo.”
For experienced paddlers like us, it was a very tame session, but it’s clearly designed for beginners, so we just had a slow lap around, regretting our decision not to bring ‘gin tinnies’ aboard our vessels.
Of course, being near the coast, Blustone is ideally positioned for more high-octane activities like coasteering and sea kayaking. Just a short drive away, you’ll find a mile of coast path, secured bays, and plenty of activity companies offering equipment hire and even guided sessions.
The verdict
As our time drew to a close, it was time for a verdict. I think that the beauty of Bluestone is that you don’t have to leave the site if you don’t want to. Everything is here.
Hop on a buggy, and you’re minutes away from woodland trails, a swimming pool, pubs, restaurants, a swanky spa, and a host of activities. Being car-free means it’s also very safe to let the little ones free-range if you’ve come with the family.
Spacious lodges and cottages also make this a great option for gathering your squad for a grown-up break with everything on site, especially if you’re looking for a spa escape where you can actually all stay together rather than in individual hotel rooms.
By the end of the weekend, I’d gone from mild sceptic to full Bluestone convert. What I’d assumed would be a glorified kids’ camp turned out to be a low-effort, high-reward getaway I didn’t realise I needed. It also turns out we’re not the only ones who think so.
According to the Bluestone team, so far this year, around 12.5% of all bookings (over 4,000) are adult-only, with no children or infants, which honestly really surprised me. but it seems plenty of adults are living their best holiday park life.
Of course, it’s worth noting that the park is still very much geared towards families. The pools, activities, and the Hive are designed for little humans to run riot, and that’s part of its appeal.
But if you can accept a few shrieks in the distance, it’s quite nice to have a weekend in a lovely lodge, with a pool, spa, and pub all within walking or buggy distance. You can also plan as much or as little as you like, and the logistics that normally plague UK getaways are fairly seamless.
Price-wise, it’s probably on the higher end for a Welsh break, but there are ways to make it more palatable. Midweek breaks often come with good deals, and if you’re going as a group, splitting the cost of a lodge makes it surprisingly affordable. Bonus: without children, you don’t have to factor in the extra cost of activities, so there’s more cash for spa treatments. Win!
Honestly, I’m already plotting a return visit with the girls this time. The plan? Cheese, wine, robes, and absolutely no itinerary. Maybe the odd spa session, though, for wellness.
I think my main takeaway is that Bluestone isn’t just for families corralling small children into armbands and softplay sessions. They can also be for adults craving a low-stress break where the pool is warm, the pub is a short stroll away, and for a few days at least, dreary life admin and emails can be forgotten. I’m sold.
Portia Jones was a guest of Bluestone. For prices and booking, visit bluestonewales.com
Strictly Come Dancing viewers were yet again sharing their thoughts on the latest exit on the BBC series, as the elimination result leaked online ahead of the results show
22:43, 08 Nov 2025Updated 22:46, 08 Nov 2025
Strictly Come Dancing viewers were yet again sharing their thoughts on the latest exit (Image: BBC)
Some viewers were puzzled after finding out who left Strictly Come Dancing this weekend in the latest leak.
Hours before the results show was due to air on Sunday, fans were told who was in the dance-off and which unlucky couple got the boot from judges. As fans are aware by now, the results are filmed on the Saturday after the live show, while the results do not air until Sunday evening.
With many calling this out over the years, the leaks have continued each week ahead of transmission. This week was no different, and with it came a mixed reaction over who apparently left.
The Mirror have chosen not to name the star who has apparently left the show with their pro dancer, while the name was shared by the usual ‘sources’. Viewers were left divided, as some had predicted it would be the case and others didn’t see it coming.
Taking to X, one viewer asked: “I swear [they] were higher on the leaderboard? Was there a mistake or something?” Another fan questioned if a mistake in the dance-off led to said person leaving the show.
A third reaction said: “If this is true it’s about time.” Another fan disagreed saying: “No, no way,” as another said: “Thought the judges would have saved them.” A further comment read: “Such a shame.”
Some fans backed the choice, with one writing: “The correct result,” as another said: “Absolutely the correct decision.” One more added: “No surprise there really!”
It comes as a special mash-up has been revealed featuring dance group Diversity. Rehearsals are now underway for the first performance of its kind featuring the group who found fame after winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, famously beating Scottish singer Susan Boyle in the final.
Now 14 members of Diversity, including the most famous faces, Perri Kiely plus brothers Ashley and Jordan Banjo, will make their debut on the BBC ballroom show on November 16 during the results programme.
The performance will see the male hip hop crew dance to Raye’s Where Is My Husband? alongside five of the female pro dancers: Luba Mushtuk, Nadiya Bychkova, Michelle Tsiakkis, Nancy Xu and Jowita Przystał.
One Strictly insider said: “Fans can expect a spectacular group number choreographed by Jason Gilkinson and Ashley Banjo. Set in LA, it’s a dance extravaganza that sees old school Hollywood collide with hip hop, as the five Strictly pros and Diversity celebrate some of the most iconic screen sirens from the Golden Age of cinema – including Marilyn Monroe.
“The pros will basically be asking Diversity exactly what the song title suggests.” The results show featuring the mash-up will also have a separate performance from pop star Olly Murs and will be the last show before Strictly’s annual Blackpool Special, which airs on Saturday, 22 November.
It follows judge Shirley Ballas reaching out to contestant Ellie Goldstein after her elimination from the show. The actress and model became the fifth star to be voted off the BBC contest last weekend alongside her partner Vito Coppola.
Sharing an image on Instagram from Halloween week of the dance pair alongside her, Shirley wrote: “Ellie, how beautiful to have had you on our show for six wonderful weeks @elliejg16_zebedeemodel … You have been dedicated to giving it your very best, your musicality is simply breathtaking and your power and energy is spectacular.
“@vitocoppola said it best, we were blessed to witness an angel grace our show. Thank you for sharing your love with us. I feel privileged to have watched you grow each week. This partnership will always hold a place in my heart. @bbcstrictly x”
For a historian who writes about war, Rick Atkinson is surprisingly optimistic. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former journalist — who recently released the second volume in a trilogy of books about the American Revolution — believes that the bedrock of American democracy is solid enough to withstand any assaults on its founding principles.
As the guest of honor at a Sunday night dinner sponsored by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles as part of its biennial Literary Feasts fundraiser, Atkinson was the most upbeat person at the event, which took place just before Election Day. Speaking to about 18 guests gathered around two circular tables carefully laid out on the back patio at the home of fellow writers and hosts Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed, Atkinson buoyed the flagging spirits of those certain that the country was currently dangling on the precipice of disaster at the hands of the Trump administration.
Book lovers attend a Literary Feast dinner featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson at the home of writers Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation, and it includes strictures on how to divide power and keep it from concentrating in the hands of authoritarians who think primarily of themselves,” Atkinson said with the cheery aplomb of a man who has spent the bulk of his time burrowing deep inside archives filled with harrowing stories of the darkest days the world has ever seen. “We can’t let that slip away. We can’t allow it to be taken away, and we can’t allow ourselves to forget the hundreds of thousands who’ve given their lives to affirm and sustain it over the past 250 years.”
The questions and conversation that followed Atkinson’s rousing speech about the history of the Revolution — including riveting details about key players like George Washington who Atkinson noted had “remarkably dead eyes” in order to not give away a scintilla of his inner life to curious onlookers — was what the evening’s book-loving guests had come for.
“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation,” said Rick Atkinson.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
A total of 40 authors are hosted at salon-style events at 40 houses with more than 750 guests over the course of a single evening, raising more than $2 million for the Library Foundation, which is a separate entity from the public library. Founded in 1992 in the wake of the devastating 1986 fire at downtown’s Central Library, which destroyed more than 400,000 books, the foundation seeks to continue the community-driven mission of the library when funding runs short, including supporting adult education, early literacy programs for children, and services for immigrants and the unhoused.
“I often describe it as the dream-fueling work, the life-changing work,” said Stacy Lieberman, the Library Foundation’s president and chief executive. “Because it’s a lot of the one-on-one support that people will get.”
The Foundation typically raises about $7 million to $8 million a year, with an operating budget of nearly $11 million, so money raised through the Literary Feasts is a significant slice of the funding pie. The feasts began in 1997 and have continued apace every other year since then, featuring a who’s who of literary accomplishment across every genre. Writers past and present include Sue Grafton, Jane Fonda, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abraham Verghese, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly.
Dinner hosts fund the events themselves — no small outlay considering the lavish offerings.
Guests were served steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The Ahameds delighted guests with a tangy grapefruit and greens salad, followed by tender steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes; a dessert of hot apple tart à la mode drizzled with caramel sauce; and plenty of crisp red and white wine. Both hosts are literary luminaries in their own right: Liaquat, a former investment manager, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” and Meenakshi recently published “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America.”
The couple travels in bookish circles and enjoys hosting salons at their home, including one earlier this year in support of New Yorker political columnist Susan Glasser and her husband, New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. As friends of Atkinson, the Ahameds did their part to introduce him, and later tried their best to entice him to stop taking questions and eat his dinner.
The guest of honor could not be persuaded. There was too much to say. “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April, and Atkinson has spent the past eight months touring and speaking on panels with documentarian Ken Burns to promote Burns’ six-part documentary series “The American Revolution,” which premieres Nov. 16 on PBS.
Atkinson is a featured speaker in the series and has been involved with it for about four years.
The dinner featuring Rick Atkinson was one of 40 taking place across town that evening. The events raised $2 million for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
The week before the Literary Feast, Atkinson and Burns spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and also screened a 40-minute clip at Mount Vernon where Atkinson discussed Washington’s unique talents as a general.
“I’ve seen the whole thing several times and it’s fantastic,” Atkinson said of the 12-hour film. “It’s as you would expect: beautifully filmed, wonderfully told, great narrative.”
The country is now more than four months into its semiquincentennial, which Atkinson joked “sounds like a medical procedure,” but is actually the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s well known that Trump is planning a splashy party, with festivities and commemorations intensifying over the next eight months, culminating in a grand celebration in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026.
Rick Atkinson’s book “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“My hope is that as a country, we use the opportunity to reflect on those basic questions of who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and what they were willing to die for,” said Atkinson. “I’m optimistic because I’m a historian, because I know our history. No matter how grim things seem in 2025, we have faced grimmer times in the past, existential threats of the first order, starting with the Revolution.”
The politically deflated might also consider World War II — the subject of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy — the second volume of which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for history. The writer knows his stuff. Guests — and readers — take heart.
This November marks 108 years since the Balfour Declaration, a promise written in London by men who had never walked the soil of Palestine. Authored by Arthur Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary at the time and signed on 2 November 1917, it became the seed of a new state and the undoing of another people. For the Jewish world, it offered recognition after centuries of exile. For Palestinians, it marked the beginning of erasure.
To fully grasp its significance and the controversies surrounding it, it is essential to understand three key concepts that underpin the narrative: Zionism, antisemitism, and Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism. These terms not only illuminate the motivations behind the declaration but also help to elucidate the subsequent century of strife in the region.
Zionism: A Response to Antisemitism in the Quest for a Jewish Homeland
The Balfour Declaration did not emerge from nowhere. It came from fear, exile, and the slow death of faith in Europe’s conscience. In 1882, Leon Pinsker, a Jewish physician, wrote Auto-Emancipation after watching mobs tear through Jewish towns in Russia. Houses burned. Families fled. The pogroms of 1881 ended any illusion that Jews could ever belong in Europe. Pinsker saw what others refused to see: no law, no revolution, no education could protect a people the world had already decided to keep apart.
Safety would come only through self-determination, through land rather than tolerance. A generation later, Theodor Herzl carried that truth into politics through the Dreyfus Affair, when a Jewish French officer was condemned for a crime he did not commit, stripping away Europe’s mask of enlightenment. Even in Paris, the supposed capital of reason, antisemitism ruled the crowd. Watching from Vienna, Herzl understood what Pinsker had already warned: emancipation without equality is another form of captivity. Herzl built what Pinsker imagined. He turned despair into movement, organisation, and speech. Through the Zionist Congresses, he tried to make safety tangible. He pleaded with ministers and kings, searched for land across the globe that could hold both memory and survival. He even wrote to the Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, for a homeland in Palestine. He refused.
Still, Herzl kept going. For him, it was not about conquest but about the right to live without permission. By 1917, when Britain issued the Balfour Declaration, Europe’s so-called “Jewish question”, a term used in European discourse to discuss the integration, segregation, or expulsion of Jews, had already revealed the sickness at its core. To Jews, it was a plea for existence. To the imperial powers, it was a strategy, another chance to extend control into the Ottoman world. One side sought a home. The other saw an opportunity. Between them, a promise was made that would change the fate of a land neither side fully understood.
Orientalism and Imperial Hubris
The Balfour Declaration was not only a promise; it was an act of power. Edward Said’s idea of Orientalism helps us see it for what it was, a colonial document disguised as moral duty. Britain spoke of creating a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, yet never paused to ask what that meant for those already living there. In its language, Palestine became an empty space waiting to be claimed, not a land of families, farmers, and memory.
The indigenous Arab population was reduced to a single phrase, “non-Jewish communities,” stripped of name, voice, and history. They were spoken about, not spoken to. It turned people into categories, presence into absence. That is the logic of Orientalism: to see the East not as a living world, but as material to be moulded by Western power and imagination. It is a way of thinking that empties lands of their people and people of their history.
British Strategic Interests and French Complicity
The arrogance that engineered the Balfour Declaration was rooted in Britain’s hunger for power. Behind its moral language lay a simple aim: control. The declaration was issued in the chaos of the First World War, when the British imperial power was fighting not only for victory but for territory. Palestine, with its trade routes and proximity to the Suez Canal, became part of a larger chessboard. The British saw the region not as a motherland for its people but as a prize to be managed.
Diplomacy and Dispossession
The Sykes-Picot treaty had already shown the pattern. Britain and France distributed the Arab world in secret, drawing borders that cut through language and kinship. These lines were not meant to unite but to divide and rule. The Balfour Declaration followed the same logic. It decided the fate of a land without asking its people. In London, it was called diplomacy. In Palestine, it became dispossession. For European Jews, it brought a fragile hope after generations of fear. They saw it as recognition, a long-awaited right to safety and belonging. For Palestinians, the same words felt like a sentence. Their land was discussed in foreign rooms, their future sealed in other people’s languages. What gave one people deliverance took away another’s birthplace. From that moment came a century of struggle. Two people, bound to the same soil, were caught in a story written by the colonial power.
Empire’s Shadow
The promise made to the Zionists through the Balfour Declaration exposed a truth that the imperial power could never admit. Western powers spoke of liberty while deciding who was human enough to deserve it. Their idea of freedom had borders. Beyond Europe, it turned into permission: granted, withdrawn, and traded according to interest. In that imagination, Palestine was stripped of its reality. It ceased to be a land of people and became a metaphor, a stage on which Europe could perform its moral ambitions. The men who wrote the declaration did not see villages, harvests, or prayer calls at dawn. They saw space, something to be promised, parcelled, and redeemed through the colonial idea of moral duty. The Balfour Declaration was more than policy. It was philosophy turned into power, the belief that history could be rewritten without the consent of those who lived it.
The Paradox of Liberation
The result was a century of grief, exile, and resistance that still shapes the region’s every breath. Theodor Herzl’s dream began in anguish. He wanted a shelter for Jews who had none, safety after centuries of persecution. His longing was human and urgent. But like many who lived under colonial rule, he saw the world through its gaze. In The Jewish State, Herzl wrote of building a homeland that would stand as a frontier of civilisation in what he saw as a backward East. This idea mirrored the Orientalist belief that the East was lesser, waiting to be corrected by the West. Herzl used that language to win Europe’s approval, presenting Zionism as a cause aligned with the imperial project. It revealed a deeper paradox: a movement born from the search for safety, adopting the very logic that had long denied it to others. The legacy of that choice lives on. Liberation cannot grow from someone else’s domination, and no people can find peace by inheriting the instruments of colonial power.
Revisiting Said’s Themes
Edward Said’s ideas on Orientalism help reveal what lay beneath the Balfour Declaration. He showed how the colonial system justified itself by turning the East into an object of control, stripping people of voice and history so that their land could be claimed in the name of development. The declaration was one such act. It spoke the language of promise but was written in the logic of empire. Palestine and its people disappeared behind the visions of those who believed they understood the region better than those who lived in it. Through that document, Britain set two peoples on a path of collision. What began as a political statement became a century of exile, fear, and mistrust. For Palestinians, the realisation of Balfour’s promise led to the Nakba of 1948, when hundreds of thousands were driven from their homes, their lives suspended between memory and survival. That wound never closed. Today’s war in Gaza is not separate from that history. It is its continuation.
Conclusion
The legacy of the Balfour Declaration shows how imperial power reshapes entire worlds. It reminds us how Western ambitions, guided by power and wrapped in Orientalist myths about “the East,” can alter the fate of nations for generations. To confront what followed, one must begin with understanding, not slogans. Real peace requires more than diplomacy; it needs a philosophical honesty about history itself. The prejudices that shaped a century of Western policy, the habit of deciding for others, of seeing one people’s freedom as another’s threat, must be broken
Peace will only come when we step out of Balfour’s shadow. Each home destroyed leaves its trace; each life taken leaves a silence that others now carry. The wound belongs to both. Peace is not a ceremony. It is a choice made in the smallest moments: to see, to stay, to listen. When that choice is shared, the land may grow still. Not with conquest, but with recognition.
