Steve Coogan says plan to cut taxes for richest is ‘breathtaking in its audacity’

Published

3 years ago

September 28, 2022

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The government’s financial plan is “breathtaking in its audacity”, according to British actor Steve Coogan.

Speaking to Sky News, the comic – who is a long-time, vocal Labour supporter – says following last week’s mini-budget, which included tax cuts for top rate payers, even Conservatives are questioning the future of their party.

Tory MP Simon Hoare said earlier on Twitter: “These are not circumstances beyond the control of Govt/Treasury. They were authored there. This inept madness cannot go on.”

Pensions could have collapsed today – economy latest

Coogan said: “I almost don’t think we need an opposition at the moment because there are as many members of the Conservative Party who are alarmed at their own government as there are members of the opposition.”

“There are so many vulnerable people out there – not just people on the margins of society, people front and centre in society who have jobs and who contribute and who are taxpayers – who are going to be struggling,” he added. “And to see the government give tax breaks to the 1% is breathtaking in its audacity.

“And based on some theoretical idea that trickle-down economics will end up helping those at the bottom. There was a 30-year experiment in trickle-down economics, and it didn’t trickle down to those who needed it most, it stopped about halfway, and I don’t see any reason why it should be any different now.”

‘I don’t want a tax cut’

Coogan, who is himself a higher rate taxpayer, says he’s very much opposed to the changes.

“I don’t want a tax rebate, I’m quite happy to pay income tax, I’m quite happy to pay 45% income tax, I don’t want a tax cut,” he added.

“Lots of people would like a tax cut, whether they deserve it or whether it’s right or moral or just is another thing.

“I certainly don’t want one, but I’m an individual – that money should be spent helping people in most need.”

‘The Conservatives don’t have a good record on the arts’

With question marks over the future of the BBC and Channel 4, Coogan, whose latest film The Lost King is about to come out in cinemas, says it could be a difficult time for the arts and entertainment industry.

“The Conservatives don’t have a very good record on subsidising the arts,” he said.

“They see it as the poor man’s choice, the arts have always been denigrated in our country, and they have a short memory because all great art at some point was subsidised.

“Shakespeare himself had to have patronage to be able to write his plays, he had royal patronage, people gave him money to make good art because that’s an immeasurable, you can’t put a price on it.

“You know, Oscar Wilde said a fool is somebody who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing; I think that’s the sort of definition of certainly the more crude conservative mindset.”

Coogan wants to help people tell their stories

The Lost King tells the story of middle-aged amateur historian Philippa Langley who led the search to find the remains of King Richard III but was later sidelined when the University of Leicester claimed credit.

It sees Coogan reuniting with co-writer Jeff Pope and director Stephen Frears – the trio last worked together on 2013’s Philomena, which also told the true story of a woman fighting the establishment.

Coogan says he does consciously try to fight against what can be a misogynistic industry.

“As a privileged, white, middle-aged man, there is the question mark of whether I should be telling that story or I should be involved in telling that story,” he said.

“But when you are in that position, it makes you work doubly hard trying to make sure you do justice to someone else’s story, especially a marginalised woman. In our enlightened times, I think it’s important you don’t have to be one of the marginalised to help them tell their story.”

The film is based on books written by Langley, and Leicester University has said it is not happy with how the institution is portrayed in the film.

“We appreciate that while The Lost King is based on real events, it is a work of fiction, and recollections will vary from various people of what happened during such an incredibly exciting moment in history,” it said.

“It is our view that the portrayal of the University of Leicester’s role in the project is far removed from the accurate work that took place.”

But Coogan says ultimately the film is entertainment and that satire “involves poking fun at the powerful”, which he doesn’t apologise for.

“As my grandmother used to say – what goes around, comes around,” he said. “And had they been more generous or just more fair, in their telling of the story of the search for Richard, then the film probably wouldn’t have happened.

“There are too many instances that I could use as examples of how she’s been relegated to the side of the story.”

“Some of the fundamental facts are this: Philippa Langley led the search, spent eight years researching where she thought it was, she alone arrived at the conclusion of the location of Richard’s body, she raised the majority of the money herself through members of the Richard III society – the university put in a small amount,” he said.

“When some bones had been discovered, she alone insisted that those bones be excavated and when they’re excavated, and they found those scoliosis and injuries to the skull consistent with those sustained in battle and at that point – the university stepped in and said, ‘we’ll take control of this’… Well, of course they might, because she’d just found him.”

The Lost King is out in cinemas on the 7 October.

Entertainment

The Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield dies aged 63

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2025

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The Stone Roses bassist Gary 'Mani' Mounfield dies aged 63

The Stone Roses bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield has died at the age of 63, his family has said.

Mani’s brother, Greg, said in a post on Facebook: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the sad passing of my brother.”

“RIP RKID,” he added.

Formed in 1983, The Stone Roses were a mainstay of the “Madchester” scene.

Mani joined the band in 1987 and formed part of its classic line-up alongside singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren. He remained with the group until their split in 1996.

Mani’s death comes two years after that of his wife, Imelda Mounfield, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2020. The couple welcomed twin boys in 2012.

The Stone Roses frontman Brown shared a tribute online, writing: “REST IN PEACE MANi X.”

Oasis singer Liam Gallagher said he was “in total shock and absolutely devastated”, describing the bassist as “my hero”.

“RIP Mani – my heartfelt condolences to his twin boys and all of his family,” wrote the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder, whose bandmate Rowetta added: “Back with your Imelda, Mani. Going to miss you so much. All my love to the boys, the family & all those who knew & loved him.”

The Charlatans frontman, Tim Burgess, shared a photo of himself with Mani, writing alongside it: “I shared this photo a week or so ago on Mani’s birthday.

“It never failed to bring a smile to my face – and that was exactly the same for the man himself.

“One of the absolute best in every way – such a beautiful friend.”

Echo & the Bunnymen vocalist Ian McCulloch said Mani was someone “who I have always loved and always will love, deeply and forever. Like a brother”.

He continued: “I am in shock to be honest. Please tell me I’m just having a bad, bad dream. My thoughts and feelings and Mani. Love to all of his family from me”.

The “Madchester” bands were known for blending indie with acid house, psychedelia, and pop.

The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut album of 1989 was a huge success, and was named the second greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian, and Classic FM.

Entertainment

Half of novelists fear AI will replace them entirely, survey finds

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2025

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Half of novelists fear AI will replace them entirely, survey finds

The novel has survived the industrial revolution, radio, television, and the internet. Now it’s facing artificial intelligence – and novelists are worried.

Half (51%) fear that they will be replaced by AI entirely, according to a new survey, even though for the most part they don’t use the technology themselves.

More immediately, 85% say they think their future income will be negatively impacted by AI, and 39% claim their finances have already taken a hit.

Tracy Chevalier, the bestselling author of Girl With A Pearl Earring and The Glassmaker, shares that concern.

“I worry that a book industry driven mainly by profit will be tempted to use AI more and more to generate books,” she said in response to the survey.

“If it is cheaper to produce novels using AI (no advance or royalties to pay to authors, quicker production, retainment of copyright), publishers will almost inevitably choose to publish them.

“And if they are priced cheaper than ‘human made’ books, readers are likely to buy them, the way we buy machine-made jumpers rather than the more expensive hand-knitted ones.”

Why authors are so worried

The University of Cambridge’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy asked 258 published novelists and 74 industry insiders how AI is viewed and used in the world of British fiction.

Alongside existential fears about the wholesale replacement of the novel, many authors reported a loss of income from AI, which they attributed to “competition from AI-generated books and the loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income, such as copywriting”.

Some respondents reported finding “rip-off AI-generated imitations” of their own books, as well books “written under their name which they haven’t produced”.

Last year, the Authors Guild warned that “the growing access to AI is driving a new surge of low-quality sham ‘books’ on Amazon”, which has limited the number of publications per day on its Kindle self-publishing platform to combat the influx of AI-generated books.

The median income for a novelist is currently £7,000 and many make ends meet by doing related work, such as audiobook narration, copywriting or ghost-writing.

These tasks, authors feared, were already being supplanted by AI, although little evidence was provided for this claim, which was not possible to verify independently.

Copyright was also a big concern, with 59% of novelists reporting that they knew their work had been used to train AI models.

Of these, 99% said they did not give permission and 100% said they were not remunerated for this use.

Earlier this year, AI firm Anthropic agreed to pay authors $1.5bn (£1.2bn) to settle a lawsuit which claimed the company stole their work.

The judge in the US court case ruled that Anthropic had downloaded more than seven million digital copies of books it “knew had been pirated” and ordered the firm to pay authors compensation.

However, the judge sided with Anthropic over the question of copyright, saying that the AI model was doing something akin to when a human reads a book to inspire new work, rather than simply copying.

Most novelists – 67% – never used it for creative work, although a few said they found it very useful for speeding up drafting or editing.

One case study featured in the report is Lizbeth Crawford, a novelist in multiple genres, including fantasy and romance. She describes working with AI as a writing partner, using it to spot plot holes and trim adjectives.

“Lizbeth used to write about one novel per year, but now she can do three per year, and her target is five,” notes the author of the report, Dr Clementine Collett.

Is there a role for government?

Despite this, the report’s foreword urges the government to slow down the spread of AI by strengthening copyright law to protect authors and other creatives.

The government has proposed making an exception to UK copyright law for “text and data mining”, which might make authors and other copyright holders opt out to stop their work being used to train AI models.

“That approach prioritises access to data for the world’s technology companies at the cost to the UK’s own creative industries,” writes Professor Gina Neff, executive director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy.

“It is both bad economics and a betrayal of the very cultural assets of British soft power.”

A government spokesperson said: “Throughout this process we have, and always will, put the interests of the UK’s citizens and businesses first.

“We’ve always been clear on the need to work with both the creative industries and AI sector to drive AI innovation and ensure robust protections for creators.

“We are bringing together both British and global companies, alongside voices beyond the AI and creative sectors, to ensure we can capture the broadest possible range of expert views as we consider next steps.”

Entertainment

Princess of Wales says her children were ‘very sad’ to miss Paddington at Royal Variety Performance

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2025

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Princess of Wales says her children were 'very sad' to miss Paddington at Royal Variety Performance

The Princess of Wales has admitted her children were “very sad” to miss the Royal Variety Performance in London, which she and the Prince of Wales attended.

Prince William and Kate made their first appearance at the event since her recovery from cancer.

Wednesday’s red carpet show at the Royal Albert Hall was headlined by the cast of Paddington The Musical.

After arriving and being presented with posies by nine-year-old twins Emelia and Olivia Edwards, the family of staff at a care home for entertainment industry workers, Kate asked if they were fans of Paddington Bear.

The princess, wearing a green velvet gown, then told the girls that her children were “very sad” not to attend the show and added she had to tell them children were not allowed to go.

“My kiddies were very sad, we’re going to have to keep it a big secret that I saw you guys,” she said.

“They were very sad not to be joining us.”

It is the sixth time William and Kate have attended the annual charity event.

When Olivia told the prince, wearing a tuxedo, her favourite singer was Billie Eilish, he replied she had good taste.

He said: “It’s very nice to see you both. You’re very smiley, you two.”

The royals were also greeted on the red carpet by ITV board members and representatives from the Royal Variety Charity, of which the King is the royal patron.

The Paddington cast were set to take to the stage on Wednesday evening, while pop star Jessie J and Grammy award-winning singer Laufey were also expected to perform.

Held annually, the Royal Variety Performance was first staged in 1912 for King George V and Queen Mary in support of the charity, which helps those working in the entertainment industry.

Ahead of the show, its executive producer Giles Cooper said the charity was “thrilled” the prince and princess would “once again attend the Royal Variety Performance”.

Mr Cooper, also chairman of the charity, added: “This annual great British institution, viewed by a worldwide TV audience of over 150 million, continues to be a crucial fundraising event supporting people in all areas of performance, either on or off stage.

“In this pressurised world of working in the entertainment industry, our mental health initiative, started in 2024, has been a lifeline for many who are experiencing issues such as anxiety, depression or addiction.”

On Tuesday, the princess called on businesses to value “time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success” in her first speech since she was diagnosed with cancer at the start of 2024.

Speaking at the Future Workforce Summit, Kate told 80 business leaders: “Every one of you interacts with your own environment; a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community.

“These are the ecosystems that you yourselves help to weave. Imagine a world where each of these environments were built on valuing time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success.

“As business leaders, you will face the daily challenge of finding the balance between profitability and having a positive impact. But the two are not, and should not be incompatible.”