CONAKRY, Guinea — It was the middle of the day when Omar Diaw, known by his artist name “Chimere” — French for chimera — approached a blank wall off the main thoroughfare in Guinea’s capital and started spray-painting.
“They know who I am,” he said confidently. Though it wasn’t clear who ”they” were, civilians and police didn’t bat an eye as Diaw’s fellow artists unloaded dozens of paint cans onto the roadside in Conakry.
Graffiti has thrived for years in Diaw’s native Senegal, where the modern urban street art first took off in West Africa. But when he moved to Guinea in 2018 to explore a new place, he said such art was nearly nonexistent.
“It was thought that graffiti was vandalism,” he said.
To win over the public, Diaw took a gentle approach, using graffiti for public awareness campaigns. One of his first was to raise awareness about COVID-19 preventive measures.
“We had to seduce the population,” he said.
The port city of Conakry faces rapid urbanization. Diaw’s graffiti has become an undeniable part of its crowded, concrete-heavy landscape.
His larger-than-life images of famous Guinean musicians and African independence leaders now dwarf the overloaded trucks that drive by. Drying laundry hung over the portrait of the West African resistance fighter Samory Toure.
The tag of Diaw’s graffiti collective, Guinea Ghetto Graff, is on murals all over the city.
Graffiti as it’s known today began in the 1960s and ’70s in the United States. It arrived in West Africa via Dakar, Senegal, in 1988, when the region’s first graffiti artist, Amadou Lamine Ngom, started painting on the city’s walls.
Known by his artist name, “Docta,” Ngom and a group of fellow artists were commissioned the following year to paint murals for an awareness campaign aimed at cleaning up Dakar’s streets.
Ngom, 51, said that at the beginning, aside from such campaigns, he did graffiti mostly at night. He later changed his approach.
“I decided to do it in broad daylight,” he said. “So as not to copy what’s happening in the United States, Europe or elsewhere. To create graffiti that resembles the African reality, taking into account our reality, our values.”
Ngom, who later mentored the teenage Diaw, said communities grew to respect the public artwork since it reflected their lives and experiences.
With the public’s backing, “the authorities didn’t have a choice,” Ngom said.
These days, graffiti has grown more assertive in Senegal, becoming part of the political messaging around antigovernment protests. In Guinea, Diaw’s graffiti has addressed issues such as migration.
Diaw said Conakry’s governor supports much of his work and has given him carte blanche to do it wherever he wants.
As his latest work beside the thoroughfare took shape, passersby began to stop and admire the portrait of Guinea’s military leader, Gen. Mamadi Doumbouya, who took power in a 2021 coup.
A 22-year-old driver, Ousmane Sylla, said he was familiar with Diaw’s gigantic paintings near Conakry’s airport.
“It reminds us of old Guinean musicians. It reminds us of history,” he said. “Graffiti is good for Africa, it’s good for this country, it’s good for everyone. I like it, and it changed the face of our city.”
The next step might be bringing in a wider range of artists.
“I would really like to see more women become a part of this, because they say that [graffiti] is for men,” said Mama Aissata Camara, a rare female artist on Guinea’s graffiti scene.
BECKLEY, W.VA. — At a somber memorial for 29 coal miners Sunday, President Obama said it was a moral imperative for the U.S. to prevent the sort of underground explosion that triggered the worst mine disaster in four decades.
The president said he had been flooded with messages since the April 5 tragedy at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine, with people imploring him, “Don’t let this happen again.”
“How can we fail them?” Obama told about 2,800 mourners at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center. “How can a nation that relies on its miners not do everything in its power to protect them? How can we let anyone in this country put their lives at risk by simply showing up to work, by simply pursuing the American dream?”
He added: “Our task, here on Earth, is to save lives from being lost in another such tragedy. To do what we must do, individually and collectively, to assure safe conditions underground. To treat our miners like they treat each other, like a family. Because we are all family and we are all Americans.”
Obama’s eulogy came toward the end of a service that was an emotional testament to the human toll of unsafe mining conditions. The cause of the blast that killed the miners is under investigation, but high levels of methane are suspected. The explosive gas had to be vented from the mine and neutralized with nitrogen to allow rescue and recovery teams to enter.
At Sunday’s memorial, speakers described the fallen miners as NASCAR fans, hunters, fishermen, motorcycle enthusiasts – and football fans.
Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke before Obama, said, “They hated the way [college football] Coach [Rick] Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan.”
The service opened with a video tribute to the dead. Gayle Manchin, wife of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III, read the name of each victim, whose picture was displayed for a full minute on a pair of oversized screens. The audience stood and clapped as each name was called.
At the base of the stage was a row of 29 crosses. Outside the hall, posters of each man were arranged in a corridor. Attached were small cards penned by family and friends.
Carl Acord, 52, was shown proudly displaying a fish he had caught. Others were pictured standing and smiling, relaxing in chairs or on beds, or posing in their best suits.
A card written for Edward Dean Jones, 50, read, “I am a coal miner’s daughter and granddaughter, and I love all miners for their work.”
Another for Joe Marcum, 57: “I love you more than words can express. Our whole world and lives have been changed and will never be the same.”
Those who attended cited a long, sad history of mining tragedies and called upon Obama to prevent more loss of life.
“I went to school with that boy right there,” Teresa Perdue, 51, said before the service, pointing to a picture of James “Eddie” Mooney. Perdue said she had family who worked in the mines. When she got word of the explosion, she said, she nervously made calls to see whether her relatives were among the casualties.
“I’m sorry, this should not have happened,” she said.
Asked about Obama’s presence, Perdue said: “It means a lot, and I think he’ll be the one who does something. I really do. I hope he does.”
Sitting in the audience was Don L. Blankenship, head of Massey Energy Co., which owns the Upper Big Branch mine. The White House said the president did not speak with him Sunday but did meet privately with family members of the victims.
Massey has been cited repeatedly over the mine. In 2009 alone, the Mine Safety and Health Administration issued 48 orders that workers be removed from parts of the mine for “repeated significant and substantial violations” constituting a hazard.
Two weeks ago, after Obama received a scathing report about the mine, he described Massey as a safety violator that should be held accountable. The report said the mine’s rate for such violations was nearly 19 times the national rate.
Massey, the nation’s sixth-largest coal mining firm, says it has a better-than-average safety record and has received safety awards during Obama’s tenure.
On Sunday, Biden said in his eulogy that the service wasn’t the right moment to talk about how to improve mine safety. But he promised that day would come.
“Certainly, nobody should have to sacrifice their life for their livelihood,” Biden said. “But as the governor and Sen. [Jay] Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said, we’ll have that conversation later.”
For now, Obama wanted to celebrate “lives lived,” not lost. He described the gritty reality of a miner’s work.
“Most days, they would emerge from the dark mine squinting at the light. Most days, they would emerge sweaty and dirty and dusted with coal. Most days, they would come home,” he said. “But not that day.”
Every recreational golfer of my generation has at least two things in common: We grew up revering Tiger Woods, and we know “Happy Gilmore,” the 1996 Adam Sandler golf comedy, like the back of our hands. Which millennial, while lining up a putt on the green, hasn’t told himself at some point to just “tap it in — give it a little tappy, a tap tap taparoo”? Who among us, before hitting a challenging tee shot, hasn’t at some point first closed his eyes and attempted to escape to his very own “happy place”? And above all, which of us hasn’t spent hours upon hours at the local driving range trying to master the craft that is protagonist Happy Gilmore’s signature running golf swing?
For all of us picking up the game once described by sports journalist John Feinstein as “a good walk spoiled,” Sandler’s character was a never-ending font of laughs and inspiration. Like so many others of my generation, then, I was very excited to watch “Happy Gilmore 2,” just released on Netflix on July 25. The sequel, 29 years in the making, didn’t have a script as instantly quotable as the original, nor was it as memorable. (Which film sequel, besides “The Godfather Part II” or “The Empire Strikes Back,” ever has been?) But “Happy Gilmore 2” still surpassed expectations: It was at times a bit silly, but it was still rollicking fun, replete with nostalgic flashbacks and a bevy of pro golfer cameos.
But it’s also more than that. It would be a mistake to dismiss the two movies as purely frivolous fare — good just for a few laughs. Rather, Sandler, long known for leading a private, low-key lifestyle that eschews the Hollywood limelight, has a specific message for Happy’s myriad fans: Family always comes first.
In the original film, Happy, a hockey fanatic whose weak skating skills inhibited his pro hockey aspirations, reluctantly takes up golf for one reason: to earn enough money to save his beloved grandmother’s home from a bank foreclosure and return her there from a hostile nursing home. Throughout the film, Happy emphasizes this as his sole motivation for biting his lips and suffering through what he calls “golf sissy crap.” Happy doesn’t particularly care about the game of golf. He’s just doing it for Grandma.
In the sequel, Happy, now considerably older and a father of five, has retired from golf and developed a bad drinking habit. A single father, he is struggling to make ends meet and provide for his daughter Vienna. Early in the film, Vienna’s dance instructor recommends that Happy enroll her in an advanced four-year ballet school in Paris, which would cost $75,000 annually. Happy senses that Vienna’s dream to dance ballet is similar to his old dream of playing hockey. With the encouragement of John Daly (one of many real-life pro golfers cast as themselves), he dusts off his old golf clubs and gives it a go again. Spoiler alert, without giving away too many of the specifics: The film has a happy ending for Happy’s family.
Clearly, this is not just about golf and laughs.
Sandler, a onetime registered and politically active Republican, is conveying to his audience a traditional conservative message: A life well lived is not a solipsistic one that exalts the self, but an altruistic one that places the interests of others above all else. These “others” are usually those closest to us — family members, older and younger generations alike, to whom we have obligations. You might notice that in both films, Happy plays golf only for others — not for himself.
Happy, who once fought to save the house his grandfather built, now finds himself trying to do right by the next generation. It is these relationships — with those who came before us and those who come after us — that give our lives meaning and purpose. And in “Happy Gilmore 2,” Sandler drives home that message in the most personal way possible: He casts his real-life wife and his two daughters — one as the aspiring ballerina.
The foul-mouthed, trash-talking rebel of golf, Happy Gilmore, is onto something important. Perhaps more of Sandler’s Hollywood colleagues ought to listen. They might learn something.
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The Happy Gilmore films center on family-focused altruism, positioning their protagonist’s actions as a reflection of conservative values. Happy’s motivation to save his grandmother’s home in the original film and support his daughter’s ballet dreams in the sequel exemplify prioritizing generational obligations over personal ambition[1][2].
The films’ emphasis on sacrificial love and intergenerational responsibility aligns with conservative ideals about family as the foundation of societal stability. This narrative contrasts with individualistic pursuits, reinforcing a message that transcendence of self-interest defines a fulfilling life.
The use of real-life family members (Sandler’s wife and children) in the sequel amplifies the film’s personal, values-driven message. This approach mirrors broader trends where movies emphasizing conservative principles (e.g., patriotism, anti-statist sentiments) historically outperform those with liberal or secular themes, as shown in Movieguide®’s research on box office success[1][2].
Different views on the topic
Critics might argue that the family-centric narrative is a universal theme rather than inherently conservative, shared across ideologies and cultural contexts. The films’ focus on humor and sports could overshadow any intentional political messaging, reducing their allegorical significance to entertainment.
Skeptics may question whether the films’ depictions of familial sacrifice equate to a coherent conservative worldview. For example, Happy’s abrasiveness and comedic rebellion against golf’s elite could be interpreted as anti-establishment sentiment rather than ideological conservatism.
While the author frames the films as conservative parables, some viewers might see them as apolitical comedies that avoid overt political commentary. This perspective would downplay the ideological analysis, focusing instead on the films’ role as light-hearted entertainment rather than cultural manifestos.
The opening scene unfolds onto a bird’s-eye view of a sedan making its way down a stretch of unmarked highway, as Woody Harrelson’s unmistakable drawl is heard off-camera. “You ever wonder if this industry of ours is just chasing its own tail?” he asks.
Matthew McConaughey, in his equally distinctive cadence, shoots back, “No, I don’t wonder. Restrictions, regulations, nickel and diming productions, political lectures,” before the camera pans in for a close-up of the actors.
The sequence pays homage to the gritty, atmospheric crime drama “True Detective.” Indeed, it was directed by Nic Pizzolatto, the show’s creator.
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have played major roles in the effort to increase Texas film incentives.
(Lester Cohen / WireImage)
In January, this four-minute video, “True to Texas,” was released as part of an unusual campaign by a coalition of A-list actors — Dennis Quaid, Renée Zellweger and Billy Bob Thornton make appearances — independent creatives and Lone Star Republicans to appeal to the Texas State Legislature.
The goal: to help bring increased film incentives to a state not known for its wholesale embrace of Hollywood or government subsidies — particularly for something like the arts.
Despite considerable push back among conservative lawmakers, the effort paid off. Last month Gov. Greg Abbott allowed the passage of an unprecedented bill boosting tax incentives for film production in the state to $300 million every two years — guaranteeing that funding for 10 years. The law goes into effect Sept. 1.
The aggressive bid to nab a slice of Hollywood furthers the ongoing rivalry between California and Texas. Several major Golden State-based companies including Tesla and Hewlett-Packard have relocated to the Lone Star State, lured by lower taxes and its business-friendly environment. It also comes as California is struggling to keep movie and TV production, having recently doubled its own tax incentive ceiling to compete with film subsidies in three dozen other states and abroad.
The new bill puts Texas in a position to become a major player among the growing list of global and regional filming hubs in an industry that has become increasingly unmoored from its historic Hollywood hometown.
“Texas now has a program that is going to be competitive,” said Fred Poston, the executive director of the Texas Media Production Alliance. “When you really take a close look at it, you realize this is a big deal. We have this new level of funding to start building more industry around it.”
The Texas bill is not only bigger and better, but found itself an unlikely champion in Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to make his state the world’s film capital.
(Eric Gay / Associated Press)
“We are not trying to make Texas the next Hollywood — we don’t like Hollywood. We want to export Texas values,” said Patrick in a campaign update. A staunch conservative who has relentlessly opposed legalized marijuana, gambling and abortion, Patrick has vowed “to make Texas the Film Capital of the World.”
The bill, which supports the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund (TMIIF) program, offers tiered grants up to 25% for projects spending $1.5 million in the state. Faith-based films and those that shoot in historic sites or employ a percentage of crew who are Texas-based military veterans can push grants up to 31%.
The governor’s office, through the film commission, has broad discretion over which projects receive funds and awards can be denied at any stage in the review process for material that portrays Texas negatively or contains “inappropriate” content.
Conservative backlash
Still, even with the bill’s Texas-style protectionist wrangling, its passage was far from assured.
Weeks before the Senate vote, there was hand-wringing among conservative lawmakers and others who opposed the bill on economic, moral and even biblical grounds. Critics took swipes at profanity-laced scripts and what they saw as inaccurate portrayals of the state’s oilmen on TV. Some viewed the grants as akin to taxpayer theft. Many shuddered at the thought that the bill would usher in the unholy influence of a debauched Hollywood on Texas.
“The Bible warns us of the consequences of the government wrongfully taking money from some and handing it out to others,” said the Texans for Fiscal Responsibility in one of several papers it published decrying the bill.
Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison called the bill “an abomination. And shame on everybody who voted for it.”
Harrison launched his own “Don’t Hollywood My Texas” crusade.
One of his followers, the Freedom Bard, a self-proclaimed “patriotic” lyricist, recorded an earworm of a protest anthem denouncing the bill with such lyrics as: “Keep your failed policies and your liberal BS.”
“This is big government liberal redistributive socialism,” Harrison told The Times, “The governor and lieutenant governor of the supposedly Republican-controlled state of Texas chose to keep property taxes billions of dollars higher so that you can subsidize a rich liberal Hollywood movie industry — how embarrassing.”
He plans to introduce legislation at a special hearing later this month to repeal the law.
The ‘Third Coast’
Despite the hostility toward Hollywood, Texas was once known as the film industry’s “Third Coast.”
Many of the westerns of the 1920s and ‘30s were filmed in the state.
Texas’ sweeping backdrops and larger-than-life characters have inspired some of the most celebrated movies and television shows, including the 1956 epic “Giant,” the 1974 slasher classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” the 1990 sleeper hit “Slacker” and the acclaimed small-town TV series “Friday Night Lights.”
The 1956 classic “Giant,” starring James Dean, was primarily shot in Texas.
(Warner Bros. / TCM)
The state’s cultural soil has nurtured a fertile creative community with filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez (“El Mariachi”), Wes Anderson (“Bottle Rocket”) and Richard Linklater (“Boyhood”).
By the early 2000s, however, neighboring states began chipping away.
“Texas had been highly competitive, we had all of these ingredients,” said Rebecca Campbell, CEO of the Austin Film Society. “Then all of a sudden, Texas stories were getting shot in New Mexico and Louisiana.”
In 2007, the state established its first program for film incentives, earmarking $20 million. Although the program expanded in later years, it became chronically underfunded, prompting the producers of “Fear the Walking Dead” in 2021 to relocate to Georgia after filming four seasons around Austin.
Linklater had to rework his 2024 romantic crime thriller “Hit Man” starring Glen Powell, originally set in Houston, when filming relocated to New Orleans because of a lack of available incentive funds.
Director Richard Linklater on the set of “Hit Man,” with Adria Arjona and Glen Powell.
(Brian Roedel / Netflix)
“We’re completely surrounded by states that have very active film incentive programs,” Linklater told the podcast “Friends on Film.” “They really support this industry, and you have to do that to compete.”
But a perceptible cultural and economic shift in the Texas landscape began to slowly take shape during the pandemic, when a wave of actors and filmmakers relocated to the state.
Filmmaker Nate Strayer, formerly of Los Angeles, moved to Austin in 2021 and later founded production company Stray Vista Studios.
“We started to realize that we could have an industry here where our stories aren’t being pulled away to other states,” said Strayer, whose company produced the “True to Texas” video.
Noah Hawley has made Austin, Texas, his base of operations.
(Justin Cook / For The Times)
Until the pandemic shut down Hollywood, “Fargo” series creator Noah Hawley flew every other week from his home in Texas to Los Angeles for meetings with his production company when he wasn’t shooting. When the pandemic ended, Hawley found he no longer needed to be based in Hollywood.
Last year he moved his company, 26 Keys, to Austin.
“My wife and I wanted to be a bigger part of our community in Texas,” he said. “What Austin provides for me is more of a local, handmade place.”
The ‘Sheridan effect’
The other wave to hit Texas’ film industry was Taylor Sheridan.
Taylor Sheridan films an episode of “Landman.”
(Emerson Miller / Paramount+)
The “Yellowstone” creator, who grew up in Fort Worth, began filming many of his hit television shows — including “1883” and “Landman” — across the state.
The productions brought in hundreds of millions of dollars to local businesses and a stream of tourists in what many began calling “the Sheridan Effect.”
Production of “1883” alone led to 13,325 booked hotel nights in Fort Worth, according to the city’s film commission.
Beyond the economic boom, Sheridan showed that Texas could tell its own stories and help seed larger ambitions.
In February 2023, Lt. Gov. Patrick had dinner with Sheridan.
Shortly afterward, Patrick described Sheridan as the “best screenwriter of our time and one of the best storytellers ever to make movies” and said, “My goal is for Taylor to move all of his TV and movie production to Texas.”
Soon, Sheridan had a multiplier effect.
The Wonder Project, the faith-based, family-oriented production company behind Amazon‘s “House of David,” was established by filmmaker Jon Erwin (“Jesus Revolution”) and former YouTube executive Kelly Merryman Hoogstraten in 2023 with more than $75 million from such investors as Jason Blum, Lionsgate and Leonard Leo, the wealthy conservative lawyer and Federalist Society co-chairman.
Two years ago, Hill Country Studios, a $267-million film and television studio, broke ground in San Marcos. The plans include 12 soundstages spanning 310,000 square feet, two back lots, a virtual production stage and 15 acres of outdoor production space.
Zachary Levi, the star of “Shazam!” and “Chuck,” is raising $40 million to develop his Wyldwood Studios in Bastrop east of Austin. Plans call for two 20,000-square-foot soundstages, along with a hotel, restaurants and homes.
Zachary Levi is planning to create a new kind of studio system in Texas.
(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)
“I really felt this … calling on my life to go and build what is essentially a new version in the lineage of United Artists,” he said. “That allows the artist to really take the power back, take their destiny back.”
But for all the activity, there was no getting around the math. If Texas did not pour resources into a substantial rebate program, it would continue to lose out.
The challenge was to convince the conservative Legislature that an incentive program was not simply a Hollywood handout.
Thus began a campaign in spring 2023 with Texas voices advocating for a strong film industry.
That May, “Good for Texas,” the video precursor to “True to Texas,” showcased Lone Star-born actors such as McConaughey, Quaid, Owen Wilson, Powell and others in support of increased incentives.
Filmmaker Chase Musslewhite, a sixth-generation Houstonian who was one of the video’s producers, said she was motivated to get involved when she lost funding for her first feature after her financier opted to shoot in Louisiana.
She joined forces with Grant Wood, a Midland native, who had studied film and ran a Dallas start-up, to launch the Media for Texas advocacy group.
“We wanted to help get the film community aligned and put forth one bill with one idea to make it as easy as possible for the Legislature to push for it,” Musslewhite said.
The Texas Film Commission painted a rosy picture, saying that for every dollar invested in the incentives, Texas received $4 of new money into the economy.
A pivotal moment arrived in late summer 2024. Media for Texas co-hosted a private screening of the film “Reagan,” starring Dennis Quaid, with Patrick at Austin’s Bullock Texas State History Museum. A number of state legislators attended.
Patrick took to the podium and announced his aim to “make Texas the media capital of the world,” Musslewhite recalled.
That was the push people needed, Musslewhite said.
Last October, Patrick convened a special hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, where a new bill for a robust film incentive was front and center.
Patrick marshaled McConaughey, Harrelson, Quaid and Sheridan to support him. Joining the effort was billionaire Ross Perot Jr.
Dennis Quaid, second from left, standing next to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, looking up, at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in March, is one of the many prominent Texas-born Hollywood actors and filmmakers to rally around film incentives.
(Cassie Stricker / Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo)
During the hearing, a denim-clad Quaid voiced his support. “I, for one, feel that the world is beginning to turn right side up again and common sense prevails, and I’d like to see that reflected in our films and entertainment.”
When Sheridan spoke, he expressed regret that his 2016 film “Hell or High Water,” a story of two bank-robbing brothers trying to save their Texas family ranch, had to shoot in New Mexico because of its subsidies.
“No one will be here without the incentives,” the filmmaker said.
During the last stretch before the vote, McConaughey, in a cowboy hat, made a final overture to legislators in March.
“If we pass this bill, we are immediately at the bargaining table for shooting more films and TV and commercials in our state,” he said. “That is money that’s going to local Texas restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, dry cleaners, street rentals, home rentals ― even Woody’s barber,” in a nod to Harrelson, who was also in attendance.
The high-profile campaign worked. Two months later, the bill passed in the Senate with a 23-8 vote, and by June it had become law.
A slippery slope?
Nonetheless, concerns remain about the program.
For one, the bill, which emphasizes a positive portrayal of the state, does not specifically address whether a film or show that has themes such as abortion, gun control or LGBTQ+ characters will receive funding.
In 2010, then-Gov. Rick Perry’s administration yanked funding for the Robert Rodriguez film “Machete” over concerns that the movie portrayed Texas negatively.
Funding for Robert Rodriguez’s film “Machete” was denied over concerns it portrayed Texas negatively.
(Ryan Green / Netflix)
George Huang, professor of screenwriting at UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, cautioned this could be “a very slippery slope.”
“I understand that with incentives you don’t want to appear to fund controversial subjects,” he said. “But where do you draw the line on censorship? Who in the governor’s office is the arbiter of good taste?”
Many inside the Texas film community stress that these are still early days and believe the film office will ultimately take a case-by-case approach.
“I think that those fears are misplaced, because the opportunity for what Texas can provide to the country and to the world outweighs the risk,” Musslewhite said.
For now,the Texas film community is elated.
“Texans kind of warmed up to the idea that if an industry were to grow in Texas, it doesn’t have to look exactly like it looks in some of these other places,” Strayer said. “I think they came to realize that you can kind of write your own rules.”
And what’s more Texan than writing your own rules?
As Hugh Bonnevilee brings back the much-loved mockumentary character at the 2026 World Cup, writer John Morton says this is Ian’s ‘biggest opportunity yet to get things right’
Head of Values at the BBC Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) is now bound for the greatest stage in world football, where he’ll be Director of Integrity
He spent many years as the BBC’s Head of Values but WIA’s Ian Fletcher has now found himself a new role – at the heart of global football. In time for next year’s World Cup the character, played by Hugh Bonneville, is to become Director of Integrity, building on the skills he developed at the London Olympics.
His move to join the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team, based in Miami, is the basis of a new six-part series for BBC1 and iPlayer, from the team behind W1A and Twenty Twelve.
Next year’s FIFA World Cup tournament, hosted by the USA, Canada, and Mexico, will see 48 countries taking part at 16 venues spread across North America.
He’s back! It’s been a while but Ian Fletcher is going to be ‘helping’ with the World Cup, from Miami. Somebody warn the Americans…(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
Announcing the new project, Ian Fletcher said: “I’m thrilled at the prospect of joining the Oversight Team in Miami for this unique event. And in terms of the Integrity role, to borrow a soccer analogy, this is a rare opportunity to set out your own goals and then score them on the global stage.”
As Paddington and Downton Abbey star Bonneville, 61, reprises his role as the jargon-obsessed boss, he will be joined by a new cast of characters including The Day of the Jackal’s Nick Blood and The Inbetweeners’ Belinda Stewart-Wilson.
The show’s writer and director John Morton said he was delighted that Ian was on his way back to the screen. “I wasn’t sure what Ian Fletcher had been up to recently. The last I heard he was still recovering from a serious Mindfulness Course in Somerset. So, it’s great to hear that he’s made it back and has re-emerged in his natural habitat at the centre of a well-known institution, but now on the world stage and facing his biggest opportunity yet to get things right.
“I’m thrilled and hugely grateful to the BBC for giving me the chance to follow him again, this time all the way to Miami, and I literally can’t wait to see what happens.”
WiA ran for three series from 2014 off the back of the original show, Twenty Twelve, proving a firm favourite with vieweres(Image: BBC/Jack Barnes)
BBC comedy boss Jon Petrie said: “We’ll miss Ian’s invaluable contribution to the BBC as Head of Values but how could he resist getting the call-up to be a part of one of the most expansive and ambitious sporting events in the world? We wish him, and the team, all the best.”
Executive producer Paul Schlesinger added: “It’s 15 years since Ian Fletcher’s journey started with the run-up to the London Olympics and we are delighted the BBC has given John another chance to capture the universal comedy of people trying to organise something really big in a room, but this time with an outstanding international cast.”
The rockumentary W1A was last seen in 2017, with the series revolving around Fletcher – formerly the Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission in his role as the BBC’s Head of Values. His task at the Corporation was to clarify and re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions and to position it confidently for the future.
He was previously flanked by Jessica Hynes, who won a Bafta for her role as BBC Brand Consultant Siobhan Sharpe – Head of Perfect Curve.
Other stars to feature regularly included Monica Dolan (senior communications officer Tracey Pritchard) and Jason Watkins as director of strategic governance Simon Harwood and Sarah Parish as Director of Better Anna Rampton.
Alexander Straus was fewer than two weeks from his first training session as Angel City FC coach. Yet, Angel City CEO and co-founder Julie Uhrman wanted to see her new manager at work.
She flew to Portugal, where Straus was completing his three-season stint as FC Bayern Munich coach — a club the 49-year-old Norwegian led to three consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga titles and a 57-7-2 league record.
As Uhrman watched Straus coach Bayern Munich at the inaugural World Sevens Football tournament, she already was familiar with his technical acumen that was on display en route to a championship victory over Manchester United. That was not a surprise.
But what caught Uhrman’s attention was Straus’ relationships with his players.
Angel City coach Alex Straus speaks to reporters during his first news conference while club president and co-founder Julie Uhrman looks on and laughs Wednesday in Thousand Oaks.
(Al Seib/For The Times)
“What I saw was something that you don’t get in an interview process and you don’t read on the [curriculum vitae,]” Uhrman said. “The connection he had with his teams was palpable. The way that they would celebrate him, the joy that they brought him, and vice versa, was just something you can’t learn in an interview process and it’s something that’s so critical to Angel City.”
So, when Straus, reserved and quiet until he opened his mouth, began to speak during his introductory news conference Wednesday morning as the third Angel City head coach in four seasons since inception — with Uhrman and sporting director Mark Parsons bookending him at the podium — he leaned on his beliefs.
How Straus wants Angel City to play on the pitch, is the same as how he wants to interact with his players in the locker room — and the state-of-the-art performance center on Cal Lutheran University’s campus.
“My philosophy is centered around people,” said Straus, who asked the media to “bear with” his English after spending four years in Germany. “I’m here to facilitate for our players to be able to go out on a pitch, have a clear plan and know how to execute it.”
Straus continued: “I need to know people, and I need to know what makes them tick. So how can I get the best out of Sarah Gorden or Christen Press or Riley Tiernan or Alyssa Thompson? How can I get the best out of them?”
Earlier in his career, Straus said he overly cared about trophies, medals and success. In 2018, he said his worldview shifted. Straus — who said he considered previous coaching opportunities in America, but didn’t feel the timing was right — realized he needed to craft bonds and relationships with his players to cultivate a positive team culture, one that could lead to championships.
Uhrman saw the bonds on display in Portugal while Straus was still with Bayern Munich and Parsons has watched the baby steps Straus is taking with Angel City in his first few days as official coach.
“Through this process, Meeting 1 to Meeting 3, I just didn’t think this person existed,” Parsons said, adding that during the coaching search he spoke to Straus’ former players and staff. “I really mean that I didn’t believe this type of quality existed, and I couldn’t be happier that we’ve got him here.”
What stood out to Parsons, he said, was that even players who didn’t play much under Straus — who may have left for better opportunities — would still speak positively about the clarity, confidence that Angel City’s new coach provided them.
Straus — and the Angel City backroom staff — are well aware that winning isn’t an overnight process. The club sits in seventh place in NWSL standings with a 4-4-2 record. In some matches, Angel City has exerted control and played the style Parsons said he wants to see asserted. But in other matches, such as recent defeats to Bay FC and Racing Louisville, Angel City has faltered — often losing despite controlling possession. Uhrman stressed she wanted a coach who could help the team bounce back from defeat, or setbacks. She and Parsons believe Straus can do that.
He doesn’t take falling short lightly. When pushed on his UEFA Women’s Champions League record since 2022 on Wednesday during a side media session, Straus spent six-and-a-half minutes breaking down why Bayern Munich fell short in the quarterfinals or group stages, adding what he learned from each losing experience.
Straus said he’s always open to talking. Angel City players, however, will have only a few more days to get to know the new coach before Straus takes the touchline Saturday at BMO Stadium against the Chicago Stars.
“One thing is to win one year, one game,” Straus said. “But it needs to be consistent, and it needs to be built on a foundation where you are always the ones that have been spoken about when it comes to challenging for winning the championship.
“That’s why we are here, and that’s what we want to do.”
In the aftermath of Democrats’ widespread electoral failures last year, party activists in California who gathered for their annual convention this weekend struggled with balancing how to stick to their values while also reconnecting with voters who were traditionally part of their base — notably working-class Americans.
California’s progressive policies and its Democratic leaders were routinely battered by Republicans during the 2024 election, with then-vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris taking the brunt of it. Harris ultimately lost the election to Trump, partly because of shrinking support among traditional Democratic constituencies, including minorities and working-class voters.
“We got to be honest in what happened, because losing elections has consequences,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, during a rousing speech Saturday afternoon. “We’re in this mess because some of it’s our own doing. … None of us can afford to shy away from having hard conversations about what it’s going to take to win elections.”
Walz, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said Democrats don’t need to retreat from their ideals, such as protecting the most vulnerable in society, including transgender children. But they need to show voters that they are capable of bold policy that will improve voters’ lives rather than delivering incremental progress, he said.
“The Democratic Party, the party of the working class, lost a big chunk of the working class,” he said. “That last election was a primal scream on so many fronts: do something, do something, stand up and make a difference.”
California is home to the most Democrats in the nation as well as a large number of the party’s most deep-pocketed donors, making the state a popular spot for presidential hopefuls from across the country.
In addition to Walz, another potential 2028 White House candidate who addressed the 4,000 delegates and guests at the Anaheim Convention Center was New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Booker argued that Democrats must remember the courage of their ancestors who fought for civil and voting rights and created the social safety net for the most vulnerable Americans as they try to fight Trumpism.
“Real change does not come from Washington. It comes from communities. It comes from the streets,” he said in a Saturday morning speech. “The power of the people is greater than the people in power.”
Harris, who is weighing a 2026 gubernatorial run and is also viewed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, addressed the convention by video. Gov. Gavin Newsom, also viewed as a possible White House contender, did not appear at the convention.
Delegate Jane Baulch-Enloe, a middle school teacher from Pleasant Hill in the Bay Area, said she wasn’t sure that California’s particular brand of liberalism will sell on the national stage.
“I don’t know if a California Democrat can win a presidential election,” she said as she and her daughter sorted through swag and campaign fliers in the convention cafe. “California is thought of as the crazy people. … I don’t mean that in a bad way — though I know some people do — but we do things differently here.”
She said she learned from President Obama’s memoir, “Audacity of Hope,” that most, if not all, Americans “want the same things,” but talk about them differently and have different approaches for getting there. California Democrats, Baulch-Enloe said, “need to get people on our side and help them understand that we aren’t just wacko liberals, and teach people that it’s okay to want things” like healthcare for all and high union wages.
But the 2028 presidential race was not the focus of this year’s California Democratic Party convention. Delegates were more concerned about last year’s presidential and congressional losses — though California was a rare bright spot for the party, flipping three districts held by the GOP — and preparing for next year’s midterm elections. Delegates hope Democrats will take control of Congress to stop Trump from enacting his agenda.
Aref Aziz, a leader of the party’s Asian American Pacific Islander caucus, said the party needed to sharpen its messaging on economic issues if they want to have a chance of victory in coming elections.
“When it comes to the affordability issue, when it comes to economics, those are the things that across the broad spectrum of our coalition, all those things matter to everybody,” Aziz said. “And what really is, what really is important is for us to focus on that economic message and how we’re going to improve the quality of life for everyone in these midterm elections and future presidential elections.”
He noted he was in France on his honeymoon recently, and was strolling through a grocery store and buying half a dozen eggs for 1.50 euros (the equivalent of $1.70) when the news broke that California’s economy had grown to the fourth largest in the world.
“When you look at a lot of our economies, California and New York, by all accounts, GDP, the numbers that you look at, they’re doing great,” he said. “But when it comes to the cost that consumers are paying in these places, they’re so high and so far above other countries that we end up diminishing whatever value there is in our GDP, because everything’s so expensive.”
Some Democrats questioned the impact of the weaponization of California’s liberal policies, including defending transgender rights, on voters in battleground states in 2024.
But delegates and party leaders largely argued that the state needs to continue to be on the vanguard of such matters.
“People like to point a finger somewhere, and I think California is an easy target, but I disagree,” said delegate Melissa Taylor, president of our local Foothill Community Democrats. “Because I think that California is standing up for values that the Democratic Party believes in, like we believe in labor, we believe in healthcare, we believe in women’s rights, we believe in rights for LGBTQ people.”
Jodi Hicks, the president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said issues such as reproductive healthcare access also have an economic impact.
“We have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” she said, adding that the party’s 2024 losses were likely prompted by multiple factors, including Harris’ being the Democratic nominee for a little over three months after then-President Biden decided not to seek reelection.
“We’re going to be analyzing 2024 for a very long time,” Hicks said. “It was such unique circumstances.”
Times staff writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.
