Connect with us

Published

on

Animal rights activists have targeted a portrait of the King, pasting over his face with a picture of the animated character Wallace.

A speech bubble, reading, “No cheese Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms,” was also put onto the painting at the Philip Mould gallery in central London.

It was the first official portrait of the King, by artist Jonathan Yeo, since the coronation, which was unveiled at Buckingham Palace last month.

Animal Rising said two of its supporters were responsible for the stunt, saying the artwork was targeted because of the King’s love of the British stop-motion Wallace and Gromit comedy franchise created by Nick Park and his status as Royal Patron of the RSPCA.

Pic: Animal Rising/Jonathan Yeo 2024/Reuters
Image:
Pic: Animal Rising/Jonathan Yeo 2024/Reuters

The Queen once revealed that inventor Wallace and his dog Gromit, the stars of hit Aardman films including The Wrong Trousers and A Grand Day Out, were her husband’s “favourite people in the world”.

In a post on the group’s website Daniel Juniper, one of those involved, said they wanted to draw his attention to alleged cruelty reported on RSPCA-assured farms.

“Even though we hope this is amusing to His Majesty, we also call on him to seriously reconsider if he wants to be associated with the awful suffering across farms being endorsed by the RSPCA,” he said.

More on Animal Rising

“Charles has made it clear he is sensitive to the suffering of animals in UK farms; now is the perfect time for him to step up and call on the RSPCA to drop the assured scheme and tell the truth about animal farming.”

A video posted on social media site X shows two protesters approaching the painting before attaching the posters using paint rollers, then walking away.

Pic:Animal Rising
Image:
Pic: Animal Rising

Read more from Sky News:
Farage takes cover on open-topped bus
Hail smashes windows and nose of jet

‘I wasn’t surprised’

Gallery owner Philip Mould said staff had anticipated the painting may be targeted by protesters and is “safely secured in its frame with protective layers”.

“I wasn’t hugely surprised,” he said. “The attack on the picture was not actually of a serious nature. The perpetrators put water on the surface very quickly in a swift manoeuvre and then they added stickers to that.

“No damage was done. The stickers only remained up for about 10 or 15 seconds, and then were taken down by my gallery staff.

“I asked the individuals to leave and they did.”

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “In response to footage circulating on social media, officers attended a central London gallery to carry out enquiries. Police had not been called to the incident.

“Staff at the venue were spoken to. They confirmed no damage had been done to either the painting or the glass that covered it. The protesters were asked by staff to leave following the incident, which they did.

“The gallery did not wish to report a crime and as such there is no further action by police.”

Animal Rising – which said the posters were affixed using water sprayed on to the back, so they could be easily removed – is calling for the King to suspend his support for the RSPCA until the charity drops its ethical food labelling scheme.

Spokesperson Orla Coghlan said: “Just as Feathers McGraw fooled Wallace into a bank heist, the RSPCA has been fooling the British public into thinking their factory farms are – in any way – an acceptable place for animals to live. It’s clear from the scenes across 45 RSPCA-assured farms that there’s no kind way to farm animals.”

A portrait of King Charles by artist Jonathan Yeo.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
A portrait of King Charles by artist Jonathan Yeo.
Pic: Reuters

The report, released by Animal Rising on Sunday, contains findings from investigations on 45 farms across the UK featuring chickens, pigs, salmon and trout.

An RSPCA spokesperson said the charity has launched “an immediate, urgent investigation” after receiving the footage on Sunday but was “shocked by this vandalism”.

“We welcome scrutiny of our work, but we cannot condone illegal activity of any kind,” they said, adding the group’s “sustained activity is distracting from our focus on the work that really matters – helping thousands of animals every day”.

The spokesperson said the charity remains “confident” the RSPCA-assured scheme “is the best way to help farmed animals right now, while campaigning to change their lives in the future”.

“We have responded openly and transparently to Animal Rising’s challenges to our farming work,” they said.

“While we understand that Animal Rising, like us, want the best for animals, their activity is a distraction and a challenge to the work we are all doing to create a better world for every animal.”

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

The portrait shows the King wearing the uniform of the Welsh Guards, which he was made regimental colonel of in 1975, and was originally commissioned in 2020 to mark his 50 years as a member of The Draper’s Company in 2022.

He sat for Mr Yeo on four occasions between June 2021 and November 2023 at both Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Clarence House in London.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Activists throw cake at King Charles’s waxwork

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

The renowned portrait artist’s past subjects include Idris Elba, Cara Delevingne, Sir David Attenborough, Nicole Kidman, Malala Yousafzai, and former prime ministers Lord David Cameron and Sir Tony Blair.

Climate activists smeared the Madame Tussauds waxwork of the King with chocolate cake in October 2022, while artworks including the Mona Lisa in the Louvre have been targeted by protesters.

Activists threw soup at the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece in January, while members of the Just Stop Oil group used the same tactic on Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at London’s National Gallery in October 2022.

In the following month, campaigners glued themselves to Goya paintings in Madrid’s Prado museum.

Continue Reading

UK

500 families in Oxford call for maternity unit to be investigated

Published

on

By

500 families in Oxford call for maternity unit to be investigated

Hours after giving birth, with her son rushed away to a high dependency unit, as she lay broken and bleeding, Morgan Joines overheard a midwife blaming her. 

Her son had been born with wet lung after an emergency and traumatic caesarean section.

“I overheard [the midwife] tell a student nurse I was the reason my son was ill, because I was too lazy to push,” she told Sky News.

“I was broken. I genuinely believed for ages afterwards that I had failed my son.

“I thought I was the reason he was ill.”

Her son was born at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, part of the Oxford University’s Hospital Trust. Morgan is one of more than 500 families who say they have been harmed by maternity care at the Trust.

On Monday, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, announced a “rapid” national investigation into NHS maternity services.

More on Health

A taskforce, chaired by Mr Streeting and made up of experts and bereaved families, will first investigate up to ten of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units.

And campaigners – calling themselves the Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services – are calling for Oxford to be on that initial list.

‘I thought I was going to die’

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has been rated "requires improvement" for its maternity services

The unit was rated “requires improvement” in its last inspection by the government’s watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, in April 2023.

The CQC flagged issues around maintaining patient dignity, and said medicines were not always safely stored and managed. The unit did not manage the control of infection consistently it said, and wards were not always kept clean.

One mum told the campaign group she thought she was going to die after being left alone while in labour and denied pain relief.

Another said she is reluctant to consider having another child and feels a “profound loss of trust in the NHS”.

Trust to meet campaign group

Yvonne Christley, Chief Nursing Officer at OUH, said she apologised “for not being able to respond in detail about individual patient cases”.

“We regret any instance where we fail to provide the service that women and their families should expect. When this happens, we make every effort to review individual cases to understand what went wrong and how we can improve.”

She said the trust “make every effort” to keep women and families informed of what action it has taken, and said it is committed to maintaining an open dialogue with community groups.

“The Trust has agreed to meet with the campaign group and is eager to collaborate with them to implement the necessary changes and restore confidence in our services. These meetings are currently being scheduled.”

Caesarean sections account for approximately 40% of all births at OUH.

A ‘degrading strip wash’

A few hours after Morgan’s son had been whisked away to another part of the hospital, a nurse tried to force her to take oramorph, a high strength painkiller, she said.

When she declined to take the drug, having previously had a bad reaction, she said staff “claimed I was being difficult”.

“[They said] to just take the meds and get it over and done with.”

Morgan Joines overheard a midwife blaming her for her son's condition when he was born
Image:
Morgan Joines overheard a midwife blaming her for her son’s condition when he was born

When Morgan was unable to get out of bed, she says the same nurse then gave her a “degrading” strip wash, without her consent.

The unit, she said, felt like it was against C-sections.

“Even though it was recommended by doctors that I had caesarean, it was medically necessary, I felt I should have done more to help him,” Morgan said.

Waiting eight hours for a C-section

When Kate* was 38 weeks pregnant with her third IVF baby, she was induced.

The doctors had tried to burst her waters, but realised her daughter was breech when the midwife felt her feet near the bottom of the birth canal, telling her: “I’m glad those didn’t break, I think I just felt a foot.”

At 11pm Kate reluctantly agreed to a C-section, but was told it was “safer to wait until the light of day” to go down to theatre.

She was sent away to an observation area experiencing intense contractions for more than six hours. In those hours, she said she was abandoned without pain relief and was bleeding.

“I felt so alone in the dead of night. My husband had been sent home, and I just wanted someone to talk to, someone to help me.

“I was in so much pain labouring but the midwife made me feel like a hypochondriac.”

CQC safety ratings

She said the situation was escalating, she was becoming dehydrated, and her daughter’s heartrate was climbing, yet no one intervened.

A registrar who began his shift at 7am, examined her and rushed her immediately to theatre.

At this point she was 9cm dilated and the registrar was “shouting at me, telling me not to push.”

Kate’s daughter was her third IVF pregnancy, and she became emotional when she talked about what might have happened, had that registrar not examined her so quickly in the morning.

“They gambled with her life,” she said.

“If my waters had broken and that registrar wasn’t there, she would have started to come with her feet first. Both my boys had shot out, so I could be talking now as a mum who lost her child.

“It didn’t need to even get to that point.

“I should have had my C-section five hours earlier.”

A chart showing the ongoing independent investigations into maternity care - starting with Morecambe Bay in 2015 and ending with Nottingham

After she had given birth, she was left “in a pool of my own blood, just covered in blood” and had to pull herself out of bed to clean up.

She said she joined the campaign in the hopes women will be listened to in the future and not have to endure what she did.

‘I can’t get my baby out’

Annika Weldon had three miscarriages before giving birth to her son.

“I remember lying on the ward, screaming in pain and none of the other ladies around me were screaming like I was,” she said.

“It didn’t feel right, obviously when you go into labour you expect you are going to be in pain, but I just knew there was something not right.”

The midwife who checked her when she was in active labour could not tell her if she was 1cm or 10cm dilated, she said.

“We spent 45 minutes trying to get my baby out but this midwife that I was with was just so uncaring, she didn’t really explain what I should be doing.”

Annika Weldon miscarried three times before giving birth to her son
Image:
Annika Weldon miscarried three times before giving birth to her son

She had said early in the pregnancy she told doctors she wanted a C-section and “was told I couldn’t have one”.

“I kind of accepted that unless it was an emergency situation, I wouldn’t be able to have one but then in that moment I was like, I don’t know what else I can do here. I feel completely exhausted; I can’t get my baby out.

“I was just so tired and exhausted.”

Her son was born not breathing and she was haemorrhaging blood.

She was taken to emergency surgery and the last thing she remembers before waking up in the ward is throwing up in her hair.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Maternity services investigated

She wasn’t told until much later the extent of her blood loss (2.5L) when she was struggling to pick up her own baby: “When I asked for help, I was made to feel like an inconvenience.”

‘OUH is particularly bad’

For Kim Thomas, co-founder of Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services and CEO of the Birth Trauma Association, these stories are nothing new.

But Oxford University Hospitals Trust is “particularly bad”, she says.

“They seem to have this incredibly arrogant attitude. They won’t take criticism.

Kim Thomas, from the Birth Trauma Association
Image:
Kim Thomas, from the Birth Trauma Association

“Women who complain are routinely dismissed. There’s a failure to learn from mistakes.”

She says OUH also has “poor postnatal care”: “Dirty wards, blood on the floor, women left in their own blood, women not helped.”

Yvonne Christley, from OUH, said: “We are never complacent and welcome all feedback, whether positive or negative, as we learn from both.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Too many families have been devastated by serious failings in NHS maternity and neonatal care.

“They deserve swift answers, and urgent action is essential to prevent future tragedies.”

They said the government was “immensely grateful” to families for sharing their experiences.

“[We] will work closely with families on this journey to help ensure no parent or baby is ever let down again.”

The Oxford campaign group is growing daily, with more like Kate, Morgan and Annika joining the ranks of those calling for change.

And each day that passes without answers is a reminder of the trauma they endured.

“It still hurts to look back on. It’s taken a while for me to stop blaming myself, but it doesn’t get easier,” Morgan said.

*Some names have been changed.

Continue Reading

UK

Weight loss and diabetes jabs linked to potentially fatal side effect

Published

on

By

Weight loss and diabetes jabs linked to potentially fatal side effect

Weight loss and diabetes jabs taken by more than a million people in the UK have been linked to a potential serious side effect, with some deaths, according to data from the UK medicines regulator.

New figures from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) show the group of drugs that includes Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Ozempic may be associated with inflammation of the pancreas.

According to the MHRA, there have been 181 reported cases of acute or chronic pancreatitis linked to Mounjaro, with five deaths.

Wegovy and Ozempic have been linked with 113 reports of pancreatitis and one death.

Other, less widely used versions of so-called GLP-1 drugs have also been linked to cases and deaths.

There is no evidence that the drugs directly caused the deaths. And the evidence isn’t strong enough for the MHRA to restrict access.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Weight loss drugs compared

That’s because pancreatitis also occurs in people who aren’t taking the GLP-1 drugs, with about 560 cases for every one million people in the general population. Gallstones and alcohol are the biggest causes.

More on Health

But the MHRA and Genomics England are launching a new study to see whether some people have genes that put them at higher risk of developing pancreatitis if they take GLP-1 drugs.

People reported through the MHRA’s ‘yellow card’ alert system to have pancreatitis while using the jabs will be asked to provide a saliva sample and their genes tested.

Professor Matt Brown, chief scientific officer of Genomics England, said: “GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy have been making headlines, but like all medicines, there can be a risk of serious side effects.

“We believe there is real potential to minimise these, with many adverse reactions having a genetic cause.

“This next step in our partnership with the MHRA will generate data and evidence for safer and more effective treatment through more personalised approaches to prescription.”

Assortment of weight loss and diabetic drugs. Pic: iStock
Image:
Assortment of weight loss and diabetic drugs. Pic: iStock

The main symptoms of pancreatitis are severe pain in the centre of the tummy area, fever and nausea. Acute cases are treated in hospital with fluids and oxygen, and generally make a recovery within a few days.

But there can be complications, and around 5% of acute cases are fatal.

With all medicines, there is a balance of risk and benefit.

For people with type 2 diabetes or obesity, there are clear benefits to using the jabs.

They lower blood sugar levels, lead to rapid weight loss and reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease by a fifth.

Read more:
Weight loss jab warning from watchdog over unborn babies

GPs can prescribe weight loss jabs on the NHS
Ozempic to Wegovy – what are the weight loss injections?

But for people who are a bit overweight and have sourced the jabs privately to lose a few pounds ahead of their summer holiday, the health benefits are far less clear.

This is a wake-up call for them.

These are powerful medications with effects not just on appetite, but on lots of body organs, including the brain.

And pancreatitis is just one of many possible side effects.

Lilly, the UK manufacturer of Mounjaro, has said patient safety is its “top priority”.

The drug’s patient information leaflet “warns that inflamed pancreas (acute pancreatitis) is an uncommon side effect (which may affect up to 1 in 100 people),” the statement continued.

Lily “also advises patients to talk to their doctor or other healthcare professional before using Mounjaro if they have ever had pancreatitis,” it added.

Continue Reading

UK

Hainault sword attacker Marcus Monzo found guilty of murdering boy, 14, and three attempted murders

Published

on

By

Hainault sword attacker Marcus Monzo found guilty of murdering boy, 14, and three attempted murders

A man has been found guilty of murdering a 14-year-old boy with a samurai sword as he walked to school in east London.

Marcus Arduini Monzo, 37, nearly decapitated Daniel Anjorin and attacked five others during a 20-minute rampage in Hainault on 30 April last year.

Prosecutors said he skinned and deboned his pet cat Wizard before trying “to kill as many people as he could” while under the influence of cannabis.

Monzo, a Spanish-Brazilian national from Newham in east London, admitted two charges of possessing an offensive weapon relating to two swords, which he said he bought for display purposes.

He claimed he had no memory of carrying out the attacks denied Daniel’s murder along with four charges of attempted murder, wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a bladed article.

He was cleared of one count of attempted murder – instead found guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – and convicted of all other charges following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Daniel Anjorin was attacked in Hainault, northeast London, and suffered fatal wounds on 30 April last year. Pic: Metropolitan Police.
Image:
Daniel Anjorin, 14, died in April last year. Pic: Metropolitan Police

The court heard Monzo was a “talented martial artist” and the jury was shown footage of him unboxing a samurai sword on 4 April last year.

In the four-minute video clip, he calls the weapon “freaking sexy” as he lunges towards the camera and makes different moves.

Marcus Monzo
Image:
Marcus Monzo with a samurai sword in footage shown during the trial

The court was also shown CCTV footage from the morning of 30 April, with audible screams in one clip as Monzo drove his grey Ford Transit van at speed into pedestrian Donato Iwule.

Mr Iwule told jurors: “I thought I was dying” and “I saw blood coming out of my neck”, after he was struck with a sword before running away.

Witnesses described how Monzo was running around “like a maniac” and “looked a bit mad, like there was nothing there”.

Daniel, who had left home at around 7am wearing headphones and school sports clothes, suffered “a near-decapitation” when Monzo attacked him with the weapon from behind, prosecutor Tom Little KC told the jury.

 Handout footage from a doorbell camera of police officers tasering a sword-wielding man in Hainault, north east London, after a 14-year-old boy died after being stabbed following an attack on members of the public and two police officers. Pic: PA
Image:
Monzo was tasered by police. Pic: PA

PC Yasmin Mechem-Whitfield chased the armed attacker through alleyways before Monzo struck her three times with the 60cm blade using “extreme force”, the court heard.

He then entered a nearby house through the back door and walked upstairs before attacking sleeping couple Sindy Arias and Henry De Los Rios Polania, who he asked: “Do you believe in God?”

Mr Little said their lives were only spared because their four-year-old daughter, who was sleeping nearby, woke up and started to cry.

Monzo, who had been cornered by police, also struck Inspector Moloy Campbell once with the sword before he was finally disarmed and arrested after trying to climb onto a garage to escape.

Doorbell footage shows the moment officers shout: “Don’t move, don’t f****** move”, after he was brought to the ground by three separate taser discharges.

Monzo told police he had “many personalities”, including a “professional assassin”, and compared the events to The Hunger Games film franchise.

He wept while giving evidence as he said he did not intend to harm anybody and told jurors he had no memory of what happened.

He told how he had previously used psychedelic drugs and smoked cannabis “three or four times a week” before the attack, but denied doing so on the day.

Prosecutors said he likely suffered from a psychotic disorder with “schizophrenic-like symptoms”, including “delusional beliefs” that both he and his family were in “mortal danger”.

But Mr Little said his psychotic state was self-induced and did not meet the threshold for diminished responsibility.

Continue Reading

Trending