Steve Coogan says plan to cut taxes for richest is ‘breathtaking in its audacity’
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.”
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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.”
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‘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.”
Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan in The Lost King. Pic: Warner Bros
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.”
Sally Hawkins in The Lost King. Pic: Warner Bros
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.
Legislation dubbed the “Taylor Swift bill” has passed in Minnesota in an effort to help people buy concert tickets.
The bill, officially called House File 1989 in reference to Taylor Swift’s hit album and the year she was born, was signed into Minnesota law on Tuesday.
It will require sellers offering tickets to people in the state or tickets for concerts being held there to disclose all fees up front and prohibit resellers from selling more than one copy of a ticket, among other measures.
Minnesota State Representative Kelly Moller, chief author of the bill, pushed for the legislation after she tried to get tickets to one of Swift’s concerts in 2022.
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Ms Moller said she was among thousands of people who became stuck in ticket sales company Ticketmaster’s system after it crashed amid the huge demand for Swift concert tickets and attacks from bots, which tried to buy tickets for resale at inflated prices.
The situation led to congressional hearings but no federal legislation.
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Governor Tim Walz, who signed the bill into law at First Avenue, a popular concert venue in downtown Minneapolis, said it was “protection so you don’t get a bad ticket, a fraudulent ticket, and resellers can’t snatch them all up before you get an opportunity”.
Two young girls – one wearing a shirt that said “A LOT going on at the moment” in a nod to Swift, and another wearing a shirt that said “Iowa 22” in reference to basketball star Caitlin Clark – attended the bill signing with their dad, Mike Dean, who testified in support of it.
An eras tour ticket. Pic: Fernando Gens/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Mr Dean said his daughter came to him in December and said she wanted to see Clark play. He said the website initially showed the tickets would cost $300 total, but they ended up costing over $500 because of hidden fees.
The timer had begun in the online checkout process, so he had just minutes to decide whether to buy the tickets for the higher price or lose them.
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He ultimately bought them, but he told the Associated Press these practices mean customers can’t make informed decisions. The new law, he said, will bring transparency to the process.
Sky News contacted Ticketmaster for comment.
A spokesperson for fellow ticket sales giants StubHub said: “StubHub has long advocated for legislation that protects fans from anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices in the ticket buying process.
“We share the goals of HF1989 and look forward to continuing discussions with policymakers to advance policies that provide more transparency, more control, and more choice for ticket buyers.”
The law takes effect from 1 January 2025 and applies to tickets sold on or after that date.
Entertainment
Reality star Georgia Harrison says leaked sex video filmed without consent spread like ‘house fire’
Reality star Georgia Harrison has told MPs how the leaking of a video of herself having sex with Stephen Bear – filmed without her consent – spread like a “house fire”.
Former Celebrity Big Brother winner Bear left prison in January, having served 10-and-a-half months of his 21-month sentence for sharing a film of him having sex with Harrison on his OnlyFans site.
Harrison told MPs on the Women And Equalities Committee the video – recorded without her knowledge – “went viral to a point I can’t explain” as it spread round multiple sites and was circulated on WhatsApp.
She added: “It absolutely horrified me that an individual had done this to me but what most horrified me was that these platforms were hosting these videos that were unconsented.
“For many that I tried to reach out to I got an automated response saying we will get back to you within four to six days.
“When something like this is happening it really is like a house fire and the quicker you can put it out, the quicker you can stop it.
“Unfortunately, in four to six days your house has burnt down, everyone knows about this video – your family, your workplace, your peers, it’s too late.”
Stephen Bear outside court in March. Pic: PA
Discussing her ordeal, Harrison added: “I feel like one of the biggest challenges in general is these big social media companies who are hosting pornographic images and videos, they don’t have any way of us getting through to them to report it when there is something unconsented there.
“It shouldn’t be robots that you get through to when it’s this important a situation, it shouldn’t be that hard to get through to someone.
“I’m not saying delete it, I’m not saying take this person’s account down, I’m just saying can we pause it and then review it in a few weeks and I think that is the biggest issue we are dealing with at the moment.”
Harrison added: “But I think if something gets to the level where you say this is me in a sexually explicit act and I have not given permission, it should be paused that day, not in four to six days.”
‘I ended up being physically ill’
On discovering the video was online, she said: “For the first few days, I was really just going through waves of complete sorrow and shock.
“It got to the point where I was so emotionally affected by what happened to me that I ended up being physically ill as well to the point where I was in hospital for five days over Christmas a little bit after the incident because the stress took such an effect on my body.
“I ended up having a cyst burst and I got an infection and literally it was just like my body deteriorated with my emotions.”
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Harrison said the footage should be made illegal – and admitted it had given her “a lot of fear” over starting a family.
She said: “I know whenever I’m dating, meeting new people going into any sort of a new work opportunity, I am known as the person who has this sex tape which I never ever filmed and never consented to be out there.
“So it changed a lot for me and it definitely gives me a lot of fear for one day, if I do have a family, which is something that was always my intention, are my children going to be able to stumble across this footage?”
Entertainment
Eurovision facing controversy over contestants and political statements – as protests around event expected
The Eurovision Song Contest is already facing controversy over performers making political statements ahead of the big event in Sweden at the weekend.
Bambie Thug, who will represent Ireland, has criticised organisers for asking the performer to alter a pro-Palestinian message before their performance in the first semi-final last night.
Meanwhile, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has put out a statement expressing “regret” that former Swedish contestant Eric Saade, who is reportedly of Palestinian origin, was wearing a keffiyeh – a traditional scarf that has become a symbol of support – tied around his wrist as he sang.
He is not competing this year, but opened the first Eurovision semi-final show in his home country ahead of the finalists being chosen.
Eden Golan will compete for Israel. Pic: Sarah Louise Bennett/EBU
Eurovision bills itself as a non-political event and organisers have resisted calls to boycott Israel, sparking protests.
Israel’s Eden Golan will perform her song Hurricane in the second semi-final on Thursday, with bookmakers placing her among the top 10 most likely to win the competition.
Security is being ramped up in the Swedish host city of Malmo, which expects to welcome some 100,000 Eurovision fans – along with thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters, with demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war planned on Thursday and Saturday.
After making it through to the final with their song Doomsday Blue, Ireland’s Bambie Thug told reporters at a news conference that they had been forced to change writing painted on their body ahead of the semi-final performance.
The 31-year-old singer said the painted script in Ogham – an early Medieval alphabet – had translated to ‘ceasefire and freedom’.
Bambie Thug says she was forced to change her body paint. Pic: Reuters
“It was very important for me because I’m pro justice and pro peace,” they said. “Unfortunately, I had to change those messages today to ‘crown the witch’ only (which was an) order from the EBU.”
A spokesperson for the EBU said: “The writing seen on Bambie Thug’s body during dress rehearsals contravened contest rules that are designed to protect the non-political nature of the event.
“After discussions with the Irish delegation, they agreed to change the text for the live show.”
In a separate statement about Saade’s opening performance, an EBU spokesperson said the organisation “regrets” that he chose to wear the keffiyeh pattern material and “chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event”.
The UK’s Olly Alexander will perform Dizzy in the final on Saturday. Pic: Reuters
Elsewhere, UK entrant Olly Alexander also performed at the event to showcase his song, Dizzy, although he is already through to the final as the UK is one of the “big five” Eurovision donors.
The Years & Years singer has found himself facing criticism from some who called for him to withdraw over Israel’s inclusion amid the ongoing war.
He addressed the controversy in a documentary following him as he prepares for the show, describing some comments he and other contestants have received as “very extreme”.
In April, Eurovision organisers condemned the abuse and harassment of contestants over Israel’s inclusion in the competition as “unacceptable and totally unfair”.
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Speaking on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, EBU deputy director general Jean Philip De Tender defended Israel’s inclusion.
“We do understand the concerns and deeply held views around the war in the Middle East,” he said.
“The song contest is a music event organised and co-produced by 37 public broadcasters, it’s not a competition between nations or governments.
“Our governing bodies reviewed the participation of Kan [Israel’s public broadcasting corporation] and found that they met all of the competing rules.”
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