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Big Brother house ‘in lockdown over security breach’ after Jedward spark row

The Big Brother house has reportedly been locked down temporarily

The Big Brother house has reportedly been locked down after a huge security breach.

Tensions reached boiling point in Monday’s (September 21) episode with explosive rows breaking out and the house divide continuing. Jedward, who entered the house for a week of double trouble this week, found themselves at the centre of drama after their hot tub chat took a dramatic turn.

When speaking to Rhianna, Edward told the former Made in Chelsea star: “I don’t think you’re gonna continue on in here if you don’t just get on with the vibes, you can’t be like looking at people…”

John added: “Yous aren’t in Love Island. Just letting yous know. For real… This is Big Brother, just always remember that.” Unimpressed, Rhianna told Chelsey who also became irate with comments made, but when word got back to Lynx, he attempted to confront Jedward before things turned heated.

Their the conversation quickly becomes sour when Lynx was seen annoyed with the comments and Jedward splashed him from the hot tub. Being forced to intervene, the housemates separated the group as the heated clash continued.

Big Brother was also seen intervening, calling Lynx to the Diary Room to calm down as well as separating Jedward from the rest of the group, meaning they had to sleep in another room for the night.

Despite the chaos being crowned “TV gold” by viewers, the drama comes following a security breach which reportedly put the whole house on a lockdown.

Housemates were allegedly told to leave the garden immediately and order into the house after fans were seen throwing tennis balls over the fence and into the garden.

In an attempt to communicate with the housemates, the act was deemed a security risk with security on hand to ensure the safety of the cast.

According to The Sun, a source confirmed: “The housemates were rushed into the house as tennis balls began flying over the compound walls and into the garden. Producers leapt into action and ordered them into the house and locked the doors.”

It was branded a “huge breach” as the housemates were on a lockdown as the team secured the site. It is no the first time fans of the show have attempted to communicate with the housemates.

It it also not known whether the security breach will be shown on TV or how long the lockdown will occur, but tensions continue to rise in the iconic house,with the drama continuing in tomorrow (September 22) night. ITV have been approached for a comment.

Big Brother continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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Luke Little booing row: Real fear darts superstar ‘could walk away’ from sport

At just 19, Luke Littler has won every major trophy in darts.

He is a multi-millionaire with lucrative sponsorship deals and his own TV show.

But has his rapid rise turned some against him?

This past weekend the teenager was once again subjected to boos and whistles from sections of the crowd as he took to the stage at the World Series of Darts in Amsterdam.

What is surprising though is that it came as ‘The Nuke’ was on a quest to complete a darts clean sweep by becoming the first player to win all 10 major televised tournaments in a calendar year.

Littler suggested afterwards that, if the booing continues, he will not attend events held in the Netherlands.

But Samuel Gill, editor of Dartnews.com, suggests Littler’s future in the sport could be at stake.

“There’s a real fear that within a few years he’ll just turn around and walk away from the sport,” Gill told BBC Sport.

“So, I think for fans, ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you’. If people keep taunting him and don’t want him to win, he might end up just walking away and not bothering anymore.”

Amsterdam was the latest tournament where Littler has faced what some might describe as an overly hostile reaction from fans.

A vibrant pantomime-style atmosphere is part and parcel of the darts experience and Dutch and German crowds are amongs the most raucous – but it is clear Littler believes he has been unfairly targeted.

The referee stopped the match during his narrow win against Nathan Aspinall in the last-16 on Saturday to warn the hostile crowd about its behaviour, before play resumed.

It followed Littler also being booed during his win against home favourite Danny Noppert on Friday.

The teenager’s quarter-final defeat to Jonny Clayton ended Littler’s quest for the clean sweep, but the Warrington native clearly felt fans had been unduly harsh towards him.

Littler has now withdrawn from a series of upcoming events.

“Just no point in me travelling, wasting my time while I’m getting booed,” said Littler.

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Ceuta solidarity shirt row: How the crisis engulfed Spanish football | Football

Madrid, Spain – Thirteen minutes into La Liga’s Madrid derby on Sunday, a banner was unfurled in the Metropolitano Stadium’s south stand stating: “Ceuta es Espana. Ni se arruga, ni se tapa.” (Ceuta is Spain. It is neither rolled up, nor covered.)

It was a reference to the controversy involving Real Madrid players Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Ibrahima Konate, who in a previous football match against Elche had rolled-up shirts carrying a solidarity message linked to Ceuta, the Spanish enclave at the centre of growing political tensions between Spain and Morocco over the influx of migrants and refugees.

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A record 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco to Ceuta over the course of two days in late July, overwhelming local resources and creating a humanitarian crisis. The Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras documented 141 deaths across both sides of the border in the immediate aftermath.

Mbappe and Konate have strong ties to the African continent. Konate was born and raised in Paris by parents who migrated from Mali, while France captain Mbappe grew up in Bondy, outside Paris, to parents who came from Cameroon and Algeria.

Mbappe said his gesture did not reflect a lack of support for Ceuta.

“I also wanted to think about all the people who are suffering, because in the end I am human and I don’t want to prioritise the suffering of one group over another,” he said.

He also said he wanted to acknowledge migrants who had suffered or lost their lives during the crisis.

Real Madrid later said it respected each player’s freedom to participate in the initiative. A day earlier, Barcelona had chosen not to wear the shirts before their La Liga game against Levante.

La Liga president Javier Tebas, meanwhile, criticised the three Real Madrid players and said he did not regard the campaign as political. David Aganzo, president of Spanish footballers’ union AFE, said players instead needed to be properly informed about what they were being asked to wear and why.

While the debate over Spanish football’s support for Ceuta followed Real into their derby against fierce rivals Atletico Madrid on Sunday, it also united supporters from both sides for two minutes as they joined in chants of “Ceuta no se vende, Ceuta se defiende” (Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended) before the usual hostility of the derby resumed.

Mbappe and Vinicius were also the target of whistles from both sets of fans when Real’s starting XI was announced prior to kickoff.

Jorge Garcia, a 32-year-old Atletico Madrid supporter, believed they deserved the jeering.

Speaking to Al Jazeera after the match, Garcia termed the players’ move “disrespectful” to both Ceuta and Spain.

Fans hold a banner during the Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid match in the Spanish La Liga at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on Sunday, September 20, 2026 [Leyla Hamed/Al Jazeera]
Fans hold a banner during the Atletico Madrid vs Real Madrid La Liga match at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, Spain on Sunday, September 20, 2026 [Leyla Hamed/Al Jazeera]

The campaign was launched on September 11 by Asociacion Valenciana de Empresarios (AVE), a non-profit business association, which described the move as an expression of solidarity with Ceuta’s residents and businesses amid an influx of migrants and a message of “territorial and social cohesion in Spain”.

AVE is chaired by businessman Vicente Boluda, a former interim Real Madrid president whose maritime group also operates in Ceuta.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente travelled to Ceuta with the World Cup trophy, declaring: “This is Spain, this is Ceuta.” Real Madrid president Florentino Perez later visited and said the trip had been organised weeks earlier and was not a response to the controversy involving his players.

Youssef Temsamani, a Spain-based Moroccan journalist, believes the players found themselves in a difficult position: wearing the shirt could be interpreted as taking a political position, but declining to do so could be portrayed as showing a lack of solidarity.

Temsamani said migrants should also form part of discussions about solidarity with Ceuta, and criticised descriptions of the crossings in parts of Spain’s political and media debate as an “invasion” or “occupation”.

Luhay Hamido, president of AD Ceuta football club, defended the right of individual players to make their own decisions and said he respected those who wore it and those who did not.

“We cannot force anyone to identify with a cause they do not understand,” he told Al Jazeera, suggesting footballers are sometimes simply told to put on a shirt in the tunnel without having received a full explanation.

The scale of the crisis that prompted the solidarity campaign remains difficult to quantify precisely. Spain’s Interior Ministry put the number of people who irregularly crossed into Ceuta on July 30 and 31 at 72,000, saying more than 70,000 initially returned to Morocco.

Seven weeks later, the government estimated that 9,000 to 10,000 migrants remained in Ceuta. RTVE reported on September 20 that around 8,300 people were being accommodated in different facilities while more than 4,000 remained on the streets, reflecting discrepancies between estimates compiled at different stages of the crisis. The new temporary centre at the port reached its capacity of 1,700 people within hours of opening.

Hamido said the crisis had also directly affected AD Ceuta, with several advanced signings collapsing because players and their families were worried by what they had seen on television. The club began paying for prospective signings to visit the city before making their decision.

At the same time, he described the support from Spanish football as “pure fuel for us”, giving Ceuta “strength, hope and energy”, and said AD Ceuta could act as an “amplifier” so the city was not forgotten.

Away from the stadiums and political arguments, football is also played in the neighbourhoods in Ceuta, where migrants had gathered in the largest numbers.

There, children could be seen playing barefoot in the street, marking out makeshift goals against walls and turning whatever space they could find into a football pitch. Some wore shirts bearing the names of Yamal, Hakimi or Mbappe – players whose own family histories stretch across borders.

For Hamido, ordinary people caught in the crisis should not be castigated.

“[These] people, in the end, are not to blame,” he told Al Jazeera.

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Ed Sheeran breaks down in tears onstage as he bows to pressure & apologises over Palestine row amid protests outside gig

ED Sheeran has broken down in tears onstage as he bowed to pressure and apologised over a Palestine row.

The singer broke his silence onstage last night after Macklemore was pulled from his tour and his own band quit in protest.

Singer Ed Sheeran speaks on stage as he addresses a controversy over Macklemore being pulled from the tour Credit: Reuters
Pro-Palestinian protesters gather neared Sheeran’s Philadelphia show Credit: Reuters
The singer-songwriter broke down on stage, saying he didn’t know if the tour was going to be able to continueCredit: PA
Sheeran’s gig was protested after the controversy Credit: Getty

Protesters mounted a demo outside his Philadelphia gig at the Lincoln Financial Field.

Sheeran said he had questioned whether he “wanted to be an artist at all” after the huge row.

The singer-songwriter said onstage last night: “I’ve had to take, and make, difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I’m so, so sorry for them.

“I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”

ED TELL ALL

Ed Sheeran plots TV chat to have his say after backlash from axing Macklemore


JEREMY CLARKSON

Poor Ed Sheeran got cancelled for saying nothing. Is Cliff Richard next?

US rapper, singer, dancer and DJ, Benjamin Haggerty, known as Macklemore was pulled from Sheeran’s Loop tour after Credit: AFP
After Macklemore was scrapped when he expressed pro-Palestine views, a whole wave of other bands dropped out in solidarity Credit: Redferns

He said he had tried not to be a “political commentator” because he wanted his music to be about “unity”.

But after days of increased pressure threatening the future of his US tour Loop, the singer admitted onstage: “I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.”

“What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.

“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.

“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, children’s lives.

“And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

The controversy started when US rapper Macklemore was banned by Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft from performing at the venue at a gig planned for later this month.

Kraft said he would not “provide a platform for hate speech” after the rapper spoke out about Palestine onstage.

The singer-songwriter said he had tried not to be a ‘political commentator’ because he wanted his music to be about ‘unity’ Credit: Getty

Getting cancelled for literally saying nothing

BY Jeremy Clarkson

IT’S always difficult to ­predict who’s going to get cancelled next.

No one saw JK Rowling ­coming, that’s for sure.

A penniless author writes a series of books that children adore and then, one day, she casually mentions that men shouldn’t be allowed to use women’s lavatories.

And that was that.

We were all instructed by a braying mob to burn her books — and even the actors and actresses she’d propelled to fame in the Harry Potter films were quick to denounce her.

She was done. Finished. Cancelled.

So who would be next? Moira Stuart? Judi Dench? Nicholas Lyndhurst?

Nope. It turned out to be Ed Sheeran.

He literally said nothing at all and, for that, his fans are trying to offload tickets for his ­forthcoming tour, his support acts have all walked and, from what I hear, even his band is ­refusing to play with him.

They want him to sound off on ­Palestine, and because he’s not really that sort of person, the keyboard warriors have sent him to ­Coventry.

It’s bullying. There’s no other word for it.

But when Macklemore was pulled from the tour, several other support acts quit in solidarity – including Sheeran’s own band.

Other acts who dropped out included Grammy award-winning musician Finneas, Irish singer Aaron Rowe and Danish singer Lukas Graham.

Thousands then cancelled tickets and the musician was unsure if he’d be able to carry on with performances at all.

Emotional Sheeran last night thanked fans for still coming out to his gig, saying: “This concert is still a place where everyone is welcome and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views, and everyone can stand beside people that they don’t agree with on everything, but they can all agree on singing these songs.”

He ended the gig by saying: “The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope.”

After losing his warm-up acts, Sheeran’s concert start time was pushed back from 5.30pm local time to 8pm.

The tour began in Auckland, New Zealand, in January and is set to finish in Mexico City in December after 16 more dates across America.

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How Ed Sheeran’s carefully crafted world is in crisis after Palestine row & why trouble at next gig could bring it down

TOMORROW night in Philadelphia, Ed Sheeran is expected to return to the stage for the first time since the biggest crisis of his career began.

Venues and promoters removed rapper Macklemore as the opening act on his US tour for voicing pro-Palestinian views on stage — prompting a legion of musicians, many of whom were British megastar Ed’s friends, to publicly turn against him over the past week.

Ed Sheeran performing in the US last year Credit: Getty
Ed Sheeran and rapper Macklemore Credit: Getty

This evening at Lincoln Financial Field, Ed will perform to 60,000 fans alone, with just his guitar and his trusted loop pedal, after Irish singer Aaron Rowe and Danish group Lukas Graham pulled out as support acts.

Irish folk group Beoga have performed with Ed on every night of the Loop World Tour — but they have also withdrawn, along with Billie ­Eilish’s brother Finneas, who was due to open six of Ed’s south ­American dates later this year.

“The world feels like a very lonely place for Ed right now,” an insider tells me.

“He couldn’t have done more to change the situation. He genuinely tried everything. This pile-on has been awful.”

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I’m told dad-of-two Ed, 35, is ­planning on pushing ahead with the concert this evening before taking a view on the remaining ten dates across the US before his shows in South America.

My insider explained: “He wants the tour to continue for fans.

“They will have spent a lot of money on travel and hotels and will want to see him perform.

“The plan is to see how it goes tonight and then Ed and his team can take a view on whether they will carry on or not.”

Last night local action groups Philly Palestine Coalition and Shut Down D&Z confirmed they would be demonstrating at the train station closest to the venue.

Police said they would be increasing patrols in the area and were dispatching extra officers to the area around Lincoln Financial Field before the concert starts at 8pm.

Jasmine Reilly, a spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department, said last night: “Our officers are talking to Ed’s team to make sure all appropriate measures are taken.”

A second source told me: “A nightmare scenario is if unrest begins inside before or during the show. It’s a possibility because of the heightened emotions with everything that is going on right now.

“Naturally Ed and his team’s concerns are for the safety of the people inside and outside the venue.”

Tonight’s gig will take place 15 days after Macklemore lit the touchpaper under Bad Habits hitmaker Ed.

The rapper — real name Benjamin Haggerty — played his pro-Palestinian protest song Hind’s Hall in New Jersey before telling the crowd: “A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in ­stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.”

The next day he stood on stage again at the MetLife Stadium and declared: “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters: criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”

Beoga members Sean Og Graham, Niamh Dunne, Liam Bradley, Eamon Murray & Damian McKee Credit: Getty Images – Getty
Finneas O’Connell was due to open six of Ed’s south ­American dates later this year Credit: Getty

Two days later, the Israeli-American Council published a ­petition calling for Macklemore to be removed from Ed’s shows.

On September 8, Jewish singer Pink ramped up emotions when she shared a statement on Instagram with her 11.7million followers.

She blasted Macklemore for going on stage “in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them.”

Three days later Macklemore was removed from Ed’s tour. US promoters Messina Touring Group said that it had been notified by venues on Ed’s US tour that they “will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the line-up.”

In a statement calling Ed a “brother”, the rapper said: “Nothing I’m writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character.

“But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.”

Macklemore explained that Ed had told him billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots American football team and their Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, would not allow him to play the two dates there on September 25 and 26.

Danish group Lukas Graham pulled out as support acts Credit: AFP
Irish singer Aaron Rowe has also pulled out as a support act Credit: Getty

Macklemore added: “Ed was in a f***ed-up position.

“His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had been before.

“He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more ­offensive than tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those ­people stood and where I stood.

“But he couldn’t get past his public-facing, ‘I don’t take sides.’ ”

The next day Ed addressed the ­situation in a statement to his 47million Instagram followers and revealed the lengths he had gone to in a bid to get everyone back on board.

He said he had spoken to “activists on both sides” as well as the owners of stadiums to find unity and that he was “appalled” by the conflict.

Ed added: “I am not complicit. I have my personal views on this devastating conflict. Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.

“Macklemore coming off the tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine.

On September 8, Jewish singer Pink ramped up emotions when she shared a statement on Instagram with her 11.7million followers Credit: Instar Images
Billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots American football team and their Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts Credit: Getty

“I would never let down the fans who had made plans, nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work.”

Explaining his decision to remain apolitical, he said: “There is a ­reason I do not use my professional platform for politics.

“My audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds.

“Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum. I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes in.

“However there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace.”

He concluded: “I have spent this week trying to build bridges, to find a solution, and unfortunately I was unable to do so.

“I know who I am, both as a person and as an artist, and those who know my heart know my values too.”

Despite his attempts to make amends, Ed was left flattened the following day as the artists on his tour started to pull out.

In a statement, Irish group Beoga said: “To play in venues that silence anyone advocating for Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.”

Pro-Israeli billionaire Kraft then came out fighting in Ed’s corner.

Shortly after Macklemore announced he was donating his $1million fee for the tour to humanitarian organisations providing aid to Palestinians, Kraft said Ed had been in touch before asking to match a donation he had made.

Kraft said: “I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people.

“I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.

“Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.

“Ed now plans to reach out to other venue owners and our goal is to continue to work together to build bridges.”

Kraft also pointedly recalled Macklemore’s stunt in 2014, where he performed on stage in a costume which featured anti-Semitic tropes.

Macklemore apologised and said he did not mean to offend anyone but conceded the outfit could have looked like a “Jewish caricature”.

In the days prior to tonight’s show, high-profile stars have waded into the row, including British singer Paloma Faith, Hacks actress Hannah Einbinder and Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton.

The controversy also spilled over into politics, with US senator ­Bernie Sanders blasting Kraft.

The Democrat wrote: “In the United States of America, billionaire stadium owners should not be able to silence artists because they speak out on political issues.

“Today it is the genocide in Gaza. What’s next? If they can silence one artist, they can silence anyone.”

Since his statement, Ed has not spoken and is, insiders tell me, “staying focused” on the hours ahead of the concert.

A source said: “Ed has never faced anything like this before.

“It’s been devastating. He is trying to do the right thing by everyone. Sadly that isn’t always possible.

“As he said in his statement he has his own views on the conflict.

“Just because he has not been public in speaking about them, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or hasn’t actively been helping in whatever way he can.”

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Arab News | Pink breaks silence over Macklemore row

DUBAI: American singer Pink used a long Instagram statement this week to explain why she shared a message attacking rapper Macklemore over his support for Palestinians at an Ed Sheeran concert, after a week of criticism online.

Macklemore opened for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. He appeared in a keffiyeh, said Gaza and the West Bank were not forgotten, and performed “Hind’s Hall,” his 2024 song about the war, while footage from Gaza ran across the stadium screens.

Addressing Jewish members of the audience, he said criticism of Israel “in no way is a criticism of you.”

The message Pink shared, from the group StopAntisemitism, called the set “anti-Israel propaganda” and said ticket holders were owed apologies and refunds. She posted a run of sarcastic memes as the criticism built, and was accused of prejudice.

“A repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine,” Pink wrote, adding that the post she shared used language she would not have picked herself. She said she was born Jewish, does not speak for Israel or any government, and repeated a position she took in October 2023 that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Her objection, she wrote, was to Macklemore deciding on Jewish fans’ behalf that his remarks were not aimed at them. She described the week as a lonely one.



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Eiffel Tower closed in row over women removed for Hindu group | Gender Equity News

The Eiffel Tower was shut on Monday after staff went on strike claiming women were asked to step out of sight during a visit by a Hindu group. Around 100 people from the BAPS Hindu movement were among the delegation as France inaugurated its first major Hindu temple.

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No Time to Cite Source, He Says : Biden Stirs Row by Using Lines From Briton’s Talk

A feud began brewing Saturday between the presidential campaigns of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) after published accounts that Biden had used part of a speech by a prominent British politician without giving him credit.

Biden acknowledged using the Briton’s lines without attribution. He said it had occurred only once, that he had been pressed for time and that “if I’d have thought, I would have attributed it to him.” But Biden said he had done no wrong, was not sorry–and had not even made a mistake.

Nevertheless, Biden said he would not do it again.

Sources in Biden’s campaign, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they suspected Gephardt’s organization of pointing out to reporters that Biden had used lines virtually verbatim from a British television commercial containing excerpts from a speech by Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

Joseph Trippi, Gephardt’s deputy national campaign manager, said: “It wasn’t us.”

Still, the incident served to further sour relations between the Biden and Gephardt campaigns.

“It is entirely possible,” said Eric Woolson, Biden’s press secretary in Iowa, “that this will only add to whatever less-than-great feelings that exist between the two campaigns right now. It is obvious from our standpoint that one of the other campaigns feels like Joe Biden is gaining on them.”

If Biden’s opponents and media commentators seize on this episode as a case of plagiarism, it would pose a threat to Biden’s candidacy because it would raise the issue of character, the same issue that drove then-front-runner Gary Hart from the Democratic presidential race last May.

The disclosure of Hart’s rendezvous with model Donna Rice focused attention on what his critics regarded as a character defect–womanizing. If the Biden episode is viewed as plagiarism, it would tend to support allegations that his personality is flawed by a lack of verbal discipline.

In his eagerness to get attention for his candidacy, Biden’s critics contend, he indulges in wisecracks, hyperbole and a lack of candor.

For example, as recently as Friday, at a forum for candidates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Biden, along with the other Democratic candidates present, opposed tuition tax credits. Biden said he had never voted for them.

However, according to a legislative report card issued by the National Education Assn., Biden voted in 1978 against an amendment that would have deleted tuition tax credits.

Didn’t Recall Vote

After the forum, Biden said he did not remember such a vote.

The dispute Saturday over Biden’s use of part of the Kinnock TV commercial came after newspapers, including the Des Moines Register and the New York Times, published stories pointing out that Biden had taken lines from Kinnock for his closing statement in a debate at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 23.

The British Labor Party broadcast the Kinnock commercial during its campaign last May against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Tories. Despite Labor’s loss, the commercial, put together by the director of the movie “Chariots of Fire” and using music written by the composer of the “Chariots of Fire” theme, was credited with boosting Kinnock, the party’s leader, by nearly 20% in the polls.

Videotapes of the commercial, considered a media classic, were given to Biden and a number of other candidates and journalists by William Schneider, political consultant for the Los Angeles Times, who was in London to write about the British election.

Biden ‘Truly Moved’

In a telephone interview with The Times, Biden said the commercial “truly moved me.”

He cited Kinnock’s eloquence with the music as background. Speaking to an audience in his native Wales, the British political leader asked: “Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university?” Pointing to his wife, he went on: “Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?”

Then, referring to Welsh coal miners among his ancestors, he asked why they had not prospered. “Did they lack talent? Those people who could sing and play and recite and write poetry? Those people who could make wonderful, beautiful things with their hands? Those people who could dream dreams, see visions? Why didn’t they get it? Was it because they were weak? Those people who could work eight hours underground and then come up and play football? Weak?

“Does anybody really think that they didn’t get what we had because they didn’t have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment? Of course not. It was because there was no platform upon which they could stand.”

A Democratic Platform

Those lines, Biden said, “remind me of what the Democratic Party stands for–that we give people a platform, a place to stand.”

In his closing statement at the Iowa State Fair debate, Biden began:

“I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university?”

Indicating his wife, he added: “Why is it that my wife, who is sitting out there in the audience, is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?”

Then, referring to his Irish kin, he said: “Those same people who read poetry and wrote poetry and taught me how to sing verse? Is it because they didn’t work hard? My ancestors, who worked in the coal mines of northeast Pennsylvania and would come up after 12 hours and play football for four hours? No, it’s not because they weren’t as smart. It’s not because they didn’t work as hard. It’s because they didn’t have a platform upon which to stand.”

In his interview with The Times, Biden conceded that he had not given Kinnock credit for the lines during his appearance at the fair.

“It was a two-minute closing,” Biden said. “There wasn’t a single thing wrong with what I did. The only thing that made it happen was time–the absolute two minutes. . . . If I’d have thought, I would have attributed it to him.”

Biden said the parallels between himself and Kinnock are true.

“So what if I didn’t attribute it to Kinnock? I can’t quite understand this. If I was making up who I was, then that’s one thing,” he said. “I’m quite frankly confused by the whole thing. Even if I didn’t (cite Kinnock), I do not understand what the big deal is. I guess I’m beginning to understand.”

In retrospect, Biden said, he would rather that he had credited Kinnock.

He agreed it would have been better to do so. Biden said he would go on using Kinnock’s lines–and to give him credit each time. “At a minimum I’m going say, ‘To paraphrase Neil Kinnock. . . .’

‘It Wasn’t Wrong’

“Am I sorry? No. Why would I be? First, it wasn’t wrong, secondly it wasn’t a mistake. And thirdly, it’s much to do about nothing.”

Biden called the dispute “a cheap shot.”

He said he had used Kinnock’s lines before his Iowa State Fair appearance and has used them in his speeches since–each time with full credit. At the state fair, Biden said, was the only time he had not cited his source.

Biden staffers produced an audio tape of Biden’s crediting Kinnock in Okoboji, Iowa, on Aug. 29. On the slightly garbled tape, Biden can be heard to say: “There was an advertisement in the last election (in Britain) and I was sent a copy of it. This advertisement for Neil Kinnock, the Labor Party candidate, expressed for me the best way to quickly say” what it is like to be a Democrat.

“And I apply it to myself,” Biden says on the tape.

Credit on Videotape

The Biden staffers also planned to produce a videotape of his appearance in Sioux City, Iowa, on Aug. 14, during a reception at the Siouxland Senior Center, where he spoke before a crowd of about 300. The Sooland Cable station filmed his address, in which he also is said to have credited Kinnock.

The Boston Globe on Aug. 30 said Biden acknowledged Kinnock when he used his lines in an address in New Hampshire. “Biden premiered his new theme, with credits to Neil Kinnock, the Labor Party leader,” the Globe story says.

Biden counts using Kinnock’s lines–with credit–about 20 times.

Although the Iowa fair appearance was a much larger gathering–nationally televised by C-SPAN, a cable network, and attended by numerous national reporters–Biden estimated that 20% of those in attendance had already heard him give Kinnock credit just a week earlier at a large Democratic Party event, called the Iowa Corn Boil.

In its story about Biden’s fair appearance, the Des Moines Register said it had been given a videotape by “an aide to one of Biden’s opponents, who spoke on the condition that he would not be named.” The Register called it “a novel use of video technology, to try to discredit a candidate.”

Staff writer Robert Shogan contributed to this story.

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Jesy Nelson shares loved up snap with new boyfriend as they hold hands while driving after ‘bar row’

JESY Nelson has shared a loved up snap with her new boyfriend Ben Davies after they were caught up in a bar row last week.

The former Little Mix star, 35, took to her Instagram stories on Wednesday evening to post the sweet picture.

Jesy Nelson has shared a loved-up snap with her new boyfriend Credit: Instagram
She shared a snap of her man Ben Davies while driving Credit: jesynelson/ Instagram

In the photo, Ben could be seen driving as he had one hand on the steering wheel and the other interlocked into Jesy’s hand.

He was sporting an all-black look with a Givenchy t-shirt and a matching cap.

The pair appeared to be loved-up as she posted the picture during their outing together.

The Sun first linked Jesy to landscape gardener Ben earlier this month.

ROW-MANCE

Shock moment Jesy Nelson caught in bar row as new man ‘gets in people’s faces’


DIGGING IT

Jesy Nelson snogs gardener boyfriend as couple are seen together for first time

The two were spotted together at the London venue Jin Bo Law after appearing to grow close, with the singer later sharing a picture of a tattooed arm as she enjoyed drinks on a rooftop.

An eyewitness who saw them together at the time said Jesy “looked like she was having a great time”, adding that it was “massively deserved after everything she’s been through”.

She’s been through an incredibly tough time over the past year and a half after her twin daughters Ocean Jade and Story Monroe were diagnosed with the muscle-wasting condition Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1.

The rare and severe condition causes muscle weakness and can affect movement, breathing and swallowing.

Jesy was first linked to landscape gardener Ben earlier this month Credit: Supplied
She’s been through a tough time over the past year after her twins’ diagnosis Credit: Instagram

Jesy has been documenting her daughters’ health battle and has spoken openly about the emotional toll of watching them undergo treatment.

Jesy has previously described the girls’ health journey as one of the hardest experiences of her life.

She recently revealed to her followers that her little girls had undergone a “terrifying” operation.

The X Factor star split from her ex Zion Foster in January this year and they continue to co-parent together.

Last week, Jesy and new beau Ben were caught up in a heated confrontation as she enjoyed some well-earned time off from mum duties.

The pair were asked to leave rooftop bar Madison in St. Paul’s, which caused a face-off with the security present.

Jesy attempted to calm the situation down as she de-escalated the argument.

Video footage obtained exclusively by The Sun showed Jesy and members of the group interacting with a bouncer as they appear to discuss the situation.

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