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From Indie Kylie to gold hotpants Kylie, can’t-get-her-out-of-our heads Kylie to Country Kylie, the star has always been a master of reinvention.

Now, Kylie Minogue has ushered in the era of the Padam-ic, thanks to the summer heartbeat-pounding earworm that set TikTok alight and spent four weeks in the UK Top 10, her highest-charting single in the UK in more than a decade.

The announcement of a Las Vegas residency swiftly followed – but first, the singer has a gig in Leicester to perform.

Later tonight she will put on her first live full UK concert show for four years – headlining Radio 2 In The Park, which takes place in the city this weekend and started with performances from acts including Busted, James Blunt and Tears For Fears on Saturday. Today’s line-up includes Rick Astley, The Pretenders and Sam Ryder, ahead of Kylie’s much-anticipated headline show.

Minogue herself has said she is “beyond excited” to perform in the city. And so she should be, because Leicester can put on one hell of a party. I know this because it’s my home city, and I was lucky enough to witness the epic celebrations when Leicester City beat those 5,000-1 odds to become Premiere League champions back in 2016. So I know there will be a huge buzz this weekend.

For many of us who spent our childhood or teenage years here, it feels like one massive school reunion. We’ve reverted to our teenage selves, WhatsApp groups pinging with detailed discussions of what times and places to meet and, most importantly: what are you wearing? (I’m thinking gold trousers – the hotpants felt just a little too much).

Secret knitter: ‘I admire how she has handled her fame’

The anonymous Syston Knitting Banxy created this Kylie Minogue piece ahead of the star's gig in Leicester. Pic: Syston Knitting Banxy
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The anonymous Syston Knitting Banxy created this Padam-era Kylie. Pic: Syston Knitting Banxy

In the run-up to Leicester City pulling off the impossible, the city responded accordingly as victory became more and more likely, with bars and restaurants creating blue cocktails and other club-inspired menu additions.

Now, the city is getting ready for Kylie in similar fashion.

The anonymous Syston Knitting Banxy, who has been sharing knitted post box toppers around the Leicestershire town since 2019, spent two-and-a-half weeks creating this Padam-era Kylie.

The mysterious knitter is known for recreating famous Leicestershire faces, including characters played by This Is England actor Stephen Graham (who is from Merseyside but lives in the county), and the Attenborough brothers, but also gets stitching to help local fundraising events or to mark other occasions.

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“I chose Kylie partly because I identify with her as a woman of similar age, but also because of my admiration of her and how she has handled her fame,” Syston Knitting Banxy told Sky News, remaining undercover.

“She seems so down to Earth and such a beautiful soul. And from a knitting artist’s point of view… that outfit: wow! The finished piece would unmistakably be our Kylie.

“This event is huge for Leicester. I’m so very proud of Leicester and I’m overjoyed that we are being visited by so many people, and by so many stars.

“And if you hear any of us saying, ‘Ay up, me duck’ – rest assured that it’s all good.”

‘Leicester’s got the most amazing music scene’

Australian singer Kylie Minogue on stage during the BBC Radio 1, One Big Sunday Music Festival held at Victoria Park, Leicester. * 02/09/2001 of Australian singer Kylie Minogue on stage during the BBC Radio 1, One Big Sunday Music Festival held at Victoria Park, Leicester.
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This isn’t Kylie’s first visit – here’s the star on stage at Victoria Park in Leicester for a weekender in 2001

The show is taking place in Victoria Park, which has hosted shows by Leicester band Kasabian in the past.

And actually, today’s visit won’t be Kylie’s first time – she played a previous weekend show alongside Coldplay and Posh Spice back in 2001. But it isn’t a regular site for gigs.

Leicester musician Frank Benbini, also known as Uncle Frank – and the dummer for Fun Lovin’ Criminals – says that while the city has a thriving music scene, the fact it doesn’t have a big arena that would normally bring such huge acts in is what makes Kylie’s appearance extra special.

“Leicester’s got the most amazing music scene but at the same time we don’t have that kind of facility for like a monstrous act like Kylie Minogue,” says Benbini. “So to have the park open up is just a beautiful thing and hopefully the weather will hold out.

“I know everybody in Leicester has been super excited about it and it’s great as well for the Leicester music scene, which has always been thriving.

“But to be pulling these big acts in our hometown just makes it super exciting… and I think it’s what’s needed in this town.

“It’ll be nice for the city to start thinking possibly about some kind of music venue that can host such big things, or whether or not [Leicester City stadium] King Power can open up and start doing big, big shows there.”

For me, I grew up in Leicester and I grew up with Kylie; from bedroom dance routines to I Should Be So Lucky at the age of five, to listening to Confide In Me on repeat as a teenager, to experiencing the joy of seeing her live for the first time in her Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out Of My Head era.

And then, getting teary while watching her on stage in front of an enormous crowd at Glastonbury in 2019, thinking of everything she had overcome to get to that place; not just the breast cancer diagnosis that forced her to pull out of what, as a female pop star, would have been a history-making headline set back in 2005, but also because there was once a time she was dismissed as bubblegum.

She said herself that Glastonbury, when it finally came, felt like acknowledgement.

Now, here she is at 55, a pop legend, once again reinventing herself and still at the top after almost 40 years in the business – she has topped the UK album charts in five consecutive decades – and doing it live in Leicester.

As a fan of the city and the artist, I feel lucky (lucky, lucky) to be in the crowd to welcome her back.

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Inflation: Cost of living challenges require bold decisions

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Inflation: Cost of living challenges require bold decisions

You know bad economic news is looming when a Chancellor of the Exchequer tries to get their retaliation in first.

Treasury guidance on Tuesday afternoon that Rachel Reeves has prioritised easing the cost of living had to be seen in the light of inflation figures, published this morning, and widely expected to rise above 4% for the first time since the aftermath of the energy crisis.

In that context the fact consumer price inflation in September remained level at 3.8% counts as qualified good news for the Treasury, if not consumers.

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The figure remains almost double the Bank of England target of 2%, the rate when Labour took office, but economists at the Bank and beyond do expect this month to mark the peak of this inflationary cycle.

That’s largely because the impact of higher energy prices last year will drop out of calculations next month.

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Inflation sticks at 3.8%

The small surprise to the upside has also improved the chances of an interest rate cut before the end of the year, with markets almost fully pricing expectations of a reduction to 3.75% by December, though rate-setters may hold off at their next meeting early next month.

September’s figure also sets the uplift in benefits from next April so this figure may improve the internal Treasury forecast, but at more than double the rate a year ago it will still add billions to the bill due in the new year.

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Minister ‘not happy with inflation’

For consumers there was good news and bad, and no comfort at all from the knowledge that they face the highest price increases in Europe.

Fuel prices rose but there was welcome relief from the rate of food inflation, which fell to 4.5% from 5.1% in August, still well above the headline rate and an unavoidable cost increase for every household.

Read more from Sky News:
Beef market in turmoil and affecting farmers and consumers
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The chancellor will convene a meeting of cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss ways to ease the cost of living and has signalled that cutting energy bills is a priority.

The easiest lever for her to pull is to cut the VAT rate on gas and electricity from 5% to zero, which would reduce average bills by around £80 but cost £2.5bn.

More fundamental reform of energy prices, which remain the second-highest in Europe for domestic bill payers and the highest for industrial users, may be required to bring down inflation fast and stimulate growth.

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Schools must be ‘brave enough’ to talk about knives – as Harvey Willgoose’s killer is sentenced

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Schools must be 'brave enough' to talk about knives - as Harvey Willgoose's killer is sentenced

Schools need to be “brave enough” to talk about knives, Sky News has been told, as the killer of Sheffield teenager Harvey Willgoose is sentenced today.

The 15-year-old was stabbed outside the school canteen at All Saints Catholic high school by a fellow pupil in February this year.

His killer, who was also 15 and cannot be identified for legal reasons, had brought a 13cm hunting knife into school.

Harvey Willgoose. Pic: Sophie Willgoose
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Harvey Willgoose. Pic: Sophie Willgoose

Following Harvey’s murder, his parents Caroline and Mark Willgoose told Sky News they wanted to see knife arches in “all secondary schools and colleges”.

“It’s 100% a conversation, I think, that we need to be empowered and brave enough to have,” says Katie Crook, associate vice principal of Penistone Grammar School.

The school, which teaches 2,000 pupils, is just a few miles away from where Harvey was killed.

After being contacted by the Willgoose family, it has decided to install a knife arch.

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The arch – essentially a walk-through metal detector – has been described as a “reassuring tool” and “real success” by school leaders.

“We’re really lucky here that we don’t have a knife crime problem – but we are on the forefront with safeguarding initiatives,” says Mrs Crook.

“I didn’t really think we needed one at first,” says Izzy, 14. “But then I guess at Harvey’s school they wouldn’t think that either and then it did actually happen.”

Joe, 15, says he did find the knife arch “intimidating” at first.

“But after using it a couple of times,” he says, “it’s just like walking through a doorway”.

“And it’s that extra layer of, like, you feel secure in school.”

After Harvey’s death, then home secretary Yvette Cooper said that she would support schools in the use of knife arches.

But there remains no official government policy or national guidance on their use.

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Some headteachers who spoke with Sky News feel knife arches aren’t the answer – saying the issue required a societal approach.

Others said knife arches themselves were a significant expense to schools.

But Mrs Crook says they are “well worth the funding” if they prevent “a student making a catastrophic decision”.

“I’m a parent and, of course, my focus every day is keeping our students safe, just as I want my son to be kept safe in his setting and his school.”

Mrs Crook says she thinks schools would “welcome” a discussion at “national level” about the use of knife arches and other knife-related deterrents in schools.

“It’s sad, though that this is what it’s come to, that we’re having lockdown drills in the UK, in our school settings.

“But I suppose some might argue that has been needed for a long time.”

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Shrinking herds and rising costs: The beef market is in turmoil – and inflation is spiralling

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Shrinking herds and rising costs: The beef market is in turmoil - and inflation is spiralling

If you eat beef, and ever stop to wonder where and how it’s produced, Jonathan Chapman’s farm in the Chiltern Hills west of London is what you might imagine. 

A small native herd, eating only the pasture beneath their hooves in a meadow fringed by beech trees, their leaves turning to match the copper coats of the Ruby Red Devons, selected for slaughter only after fattening naturally during a contented if short existence.

But this bucolic scene belies the turmoil in the beef market, where herds are shrinking, costs are rising, and even the promise of the highest prices in years, driven by the steepest price increase of any foodstuff, is not enough to tempt many farmers to invest.

For centuries, a symbolic staple of the British lunch table, beef now tells us a story about spiralling inflation and structural decline in agriculture.

Mr Chapman has been raising beef for just over a decade. A former champion eventing rider with a livery yard near Chalfont St Giles, the main challenge when he shifted his attention from horses to cows was that prices were too low.

“Ten years ago, the deadweight carcass price for beef was £3.60 a kilo. We might clear £60 a head of cattle,” he says. “The only way we could make the sums add up was to process and sell the meat ourselves.”

Processing a carcass doubles the revenue, from around £2,000 at today’s prices to £4,000. That insight saw his farm sprout a butchery and farm shop under the Native Beef brand. Today, they process two animals a week and sell or store every cut on site, from fillet to dripping.

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Today, farmgate prices are nearly double what they were in 2015 at £6.50 a kilo, down slightly from the April peak of almost £7, but still up around 25% in a year.

For consumers that has made paying more than £5 for a pack of mince the norm. For farmers, rising prices reflect rising costs, long-term trends, and structural changes to the subsidy regime since Brexit.

“Supply and demand is the short answer,” says Mr Chapman.

“Cow numbers have been falling roughly 3% a year for the last decade, probably in this country. Since Brexit, there is virtually no direct support for food in this country. Well over 50% of the beef supply would have come from the dairy herd, but that’s been reducing because farmers just couldn’t make money.”

Political, environmental and economic forces

Beef farmers also face the same costs of trading as every other business. The rise in employers’ national insurance and the minimum wage have increased labour costs, and energy prices remain above the long-term average.

Then there is the weather, the inescapable variable in agriculture that this year delivered a historically dry summer, leaving pastures dormant, reducing hay and silage yields and forcing up feed costs.

Native Beef is not immune to these forces. Mr Chapman has reduced his suckler herd from 110 to 90, culling older cows to reduce costs this winter. If repeated nationally, the full impact of that reduction will only be fully clear in three years’ time, when fewer calves will reach maturity for sale, potentially keeping prices high.

That lag demonstrates one of the challenges in bringing prices down.

Basic economics says high prices ought to provide an opportunity and prompt increased supply, but there is no quick fix. Calves take nine months to gestate and another 20 to 24 months to reach maturity, and without certainty about price, there is greater risk.

There is another long-term issue weighing on farmers of all kinds: inheritance tax. The ending of the exemption for agriculture, announced in the last budget and due to be imposed from next April, has undermined confidence.

Neil Shand of the National Beef Association cites farmers who are spending what available capital they have on expensive life insurance to protect their estates, rather than expanding their herds.

“The farmgate price is such that we should be in an environment that we should be in a great place to expand, there is a market there that wants the product,” he says. “But the inheritance tax challenge has made everyone terrified to invest in something that will be more heavily taxed in the future.”

While some of the issues are domestic, the UK is not alone.

Beef prices are rising in the US and Europe too, but that is small consolation to the consumer, and none at all to the cow.

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