Shannon Matthews' kidnapper from prison pen pal to 'bizarre' public sighting

speculation over Kate Middleton and King Charles’s respective health woes continue to swirl.With senior members of the royal family pulling back from the royal fold one at a time over a myriad of health issues, the royal family has faced a difficult start to the year.And according to Kay, the family needs to get their “act together or lose public confidence” before it’s too late.“The photograph issue, while small in itself, nevertheless exposed tensions that lie close to the surface in the family, as well as the fragility of an institution that for decades seemed impervious to any external threat,” Kay wrote in the Daily Mail.“But if we are not quite at the 11th hour, we are ­perilously close. There still may be time for the high tide of public disapproval to recede, but the cost to the royal image and to individual reputations has been high.”“Yet the problems go beyond the two medical emergencies.

Sara Cox, the presenter of BBC Radio 2, has had quite a journey from being shockingly stalked by a paedophile to securing herself an impressive net worth.The 49 year old, who hails from Bolton, is now taking on her next venture as she joins this series of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer.The radio star will tackle technicals and showstoppers as she masters baking in the iconic GBBO tent alongside the likes of Danny Dyer, Paloma Faith, Oti Mabuse and Spencer Matthews.The 2024 celebrity series will kick off from 7.40pm on Sunday, 17 March on Channel 4 with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith returning as judges and Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond as hosts. As we watch Sara mix her way to become Star Baker, we've taken a look at her life away from the spotlight.

Freed serial killer Charles Sobhraj, who allegedly murdered 20 backpackers in Asia, has been spotted amongst tourists in London.The 79-year-old French man was released from a Nepalese prison in 2022 after spending nearly two decades behind bars. Sobhraj, who inspired the hit BBC drama The Serpent in 2021, is suspected of killing at least 20 Western tourists who were travelling through Asia's "hippy trail" in the 1970s and 1980s. Now pictures show him visiting the UK wearing a false beard and wig, while he his being filmed for a documentary.

Cerys Matthews shot to fame in the 1990s as a member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and has gone on to have a hugely successful and varied career in the spotlight. She's released several solo albums and penned a number of books, but it's her weekly Radio 6 show which has really captured fans over recent years. Cerys, 54, hosts her own Sunday morning show on Radio 6 every weekend, with a huge variety of famous guests joining her.

The chair of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign has indicated that the final report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) into ‘injustice caused by the maladministration’ of changes to the State Pension age, “is set to be released within weeks”.

Cardinals, Chalk, Enola Gay, Gurriers and NewDad, gathered at downtown Austin’s Velveeta Room to show solidarity with Palestine amid the ongoing war in Gaza. This came after it was revealed last week that the US Army was a “super sponsor” of the music, film, culture and tech festival as well as defence contractor RTX (Raytheon), which has supplied weapons to Israel.The venue was previously set to host the Music For Ireland showcase, while as per a report from Nialler9, Belfast’s Enola Gay were booked to play a separate, UK-led event via PRS funding.

Jonathan Ross, the host of ITV's Oscars coverage, has faced a wave of criticism after making an awkward mistake about Cillian Murphy, who is from the Republic of Ireland. Despite the actor proudly speaking in Irish as he accepted his first- ever Oscar award, presenter Jonathan repeatedly referred to the Peaky Blinders star as British, much to the annoyance of viewers. Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer was the big winner at the Oscars, taking home seven awards.The movie, which tells the story of J Robert Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, won best picture.

Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen has received a TV sequel series on Netflix.The spin-off series stars Theo James as Eddie Halstead, who has inherited an estate of 15,000 acres and the title of Duke of Halstead from his deceased father. He soon discovers the land, however, is part of Mickey Pearson’s cannabis empire.Pearson was played by Matthew McConaughey in Guy Ritchie’s original 2020 film, alongside Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Jeremy Strong and Michelle Dockery.This sequel series, meanwhile, stars predominantly British acting heavyweights including Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, Peter Serafinowicz, Ray Winstone and Vinnie Jones.Netflix has not announced whether The Gentlemen will return for a second season.

British Army’s website quietly removed Kate Middleton‘s name from the list of attendees for the Colonel’s Review Tuesday after it was speculated that the event would be one of her first appearances since her abdominal surgery. On Tuesday, her office at Kensington Palace said they hadn’t been consulted about her appearance, per People.Prior to the removal of her name, it was reported that the Princess of Wales, 42, would have been examining the Foot soldiers as the honorary Colonel of the Irish Guards at the pre-Trooping the Colour event.

Pro-Palestine activists have defaced the UK Government's headquarters in Edinburgh with red paint.

untimely death of Thomas Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Windsor, 56th in line to the British throneThe financier, 45, was found dead Sunday evening at an estate in the Cotswolds, England, with a gunshot wound to the head. The death is “not being treated as suspicious.”Kingston wed Lady Gabriella — who is the second cousin of King Charles — in 2019 following a six-year courtship.

Meghan Markle sent a message to Kelly Clarkson through her bestie Abigail Spencer!

Netflix documentary Can I Tell You A Secret? explores the crimes of serial cyberstalker Matthew Hardy.Based on a true crime podcast of the same name, the miniseries follows some of the women targeted by Hardy and the police investigation which led to him receiving the longest custodial sentence in British history for stalking online.Hardy is believed to have stalked at least 62 victims over 11 years by creating fake social media accounts, before he was finally convicted in 2022.In January 2022, Hardy was sentenced to nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to three counts of stalking with intent to cause alarm or distress, two counts of stalking without intent to cause alarm, and breaching a restraining order from 2013. He also admitted to stalking four further women at the time.In October of the same year, Hardy’s sentence was reduced to eight years in the court of appeal, after it was agreed that the original sentence was too high.According to his lawyer Sara Haque, the original sentence failed to take into account Hardy’s mental disorders, including Asperger’s and autism, which apparently caused him to have a lack of empathy for those impacted by his actions.His sentence was also reduced due to a change in the law in April 2017 for stalking offences, which the judge had failed to take into account.Hardy is still in prison at the time of writing (February 2024).

Hozier and Wembley Arena have responded after a fan was told to remove their ‘Free Palestine’ scarf upon entry at the venue last year.In December 2023, a concert attendee named Hiba Ahmad recounted their experience on X/Twitter of being “pulled aside and escorted to wardrobe” for wearing a scarf in solidarity with Palestine at the concert.The Irish artist performed at the OVO Arena Wembley on December 15 as part of his 2023 UK and Ireland tour.The fan wrote that they wear the ‘Free Palestine’ scarf “everywhere as a show of solidarity” and “because it is fucking cold”.“They then proceeded to tell me they are taking my scarf for my own protection as I might get ‘hate crimed’ for wearing it,” the social media thread stated.The attendee added that staff said they would not confiscate their pride key chain, because they are “not political”.“On the way in I saw people being let in with all sorts of political slogans – especially one memorable tote bag about animal cruelty and testing,” the posts added.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Palestinian musicians Saint Levant and MC Abdul have united to release “Deira,” which sees the two artists paying peaceful tribute to the people and culture of Gaza and performing in traditional Shaabi Arab musical style. Levant recently signed with Universal Arabic Music label, founded by Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, manager of the Weeknd and CEO of XO. “Deira is the name of the hotel that my father, Rashid, an architect, built with my mother in 2000 when they moved to Gaza,” said Levant, who is of Palestinian, Algerian, French and Serbian descent and is currently based in Los Angeles.

Amy Winehouse‘s statue in Camden was covered by Palestine flag sticker.The sticker was found on Monday (February 19) on the bronze statue of the late British artist, which is situated in Camden Market.The statue of the singer – who died in 2011, aged 27 – was erected in her hometown in 2014.The sticker was “removed immediately” after being discovered and reported to police.Camden Market wrote on Twitter yesterday: “This morning we were made aware that a member of the public had placed a sticker over the Star of David necklace on the Amy Winehouse statue in the North Yard of Camden Market. This was removed immediately, and the incident was reported to the police.“Camden Market remains first and foremost, a place of diversity – a global destination that welcomes everyone.

Annika Pham Copenhagen-based sales and financing outlet REinvent has inked major deals on the Danish/German thriller “Oxen”, ahead of its screening Feb. 19 as part of the Berlinale Series Market Selects label. The show, produced by Scandi major SF Studios with Germany’s Square One for TV2 Denmark and ZDF, has been acquired by GSN Networks for the UK, AMC for Spain/Portugal as well as Orion Group for Poland.

The 2024 British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on Sunday (February 18) at the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank Centre in London, England.

Enter Shikari have made a speech expressing solidarity with Palestine at their huge Wembley Arena gig last night (February 17).The St Albans band have just finished off their massive UK arena tour at London’s arena last night, where frontman Rou Reynolds made a riveting speech in support of Palestine: “We cannot just enjoy this moment without acknowledging the fact that there are children being blown to pieces by a government and a country that has been completely lost in nationalistic and religious fervour.”He continued to express solidarity “with the activists and actionists up and down the country who have been blocking and targeting the Israeli weapons manufacturing factories.” Reynolds also emphasise that “our country is very complicit in this atrocity”, and supported “those who are targeting the investment banks that are effectively bankrolling genocide.“We have been yelling ‘Free Gaza’, ‘Free Palestine’ for 15 years,” he said. “I just hope to God that there is still a Gaza and a Palestine left when this fucking nightmare ends.“So let us be grateful for tonight, we have safety.

The Green Brigade are urging Celtic fans to join them in singing the Irish ballad Grace before Saturday’s Scottish Premiership clash against Kilmarnock as a tribute to the people of Palestine.