Police have released images of two men after a 19-year-old man was allegedly raped in Brighton.

The victim said he was approached by two men in the city centre around 3.30am on Saturday who went on to rape him.

He was able to get help from a passer-by who called police.

“This is a deeply concerning incident and we are supporting the victim as our enquiries continue,” Detective Inspector Sean Booth said.

“I would urge anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area around that time, or anyone who recognises the two men in these images, to please come forward.

“Your information could be key as we work to identify those responsible.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will be “looking towards a better, brighter future” in his first Christmas message as prime minister.

It comes almost six months into the Labour leader’s time in Downing Street, with the prime minister currently having to battle criticisms of his party’s management of the economy and the direction he is taking the country.

His message takes an optimistic tone, while also encouraging people to “look after those around us” and wishing for peace in the Middle East.

Sir Keir said: “This Christmas, people will be travelling up and down the country. Heading home, visiting relatives and loved ones to celebrate together the hope and joy of this special season.

“It’s a time to remind ourselves what’s really important. Family. Friendship. And fellowship between all people.

“Being there for one another – in these celebrations, as well as the more difficult times.”

The prime minister went on: “I’d like especially to thank those who will spend their Christmas serving others this year. In our NHS and emergency services, our Armed Forces and the churches and charities that will welcome every person this Christmas.

“Because I know that this is not an easy time for everyone, and my thoughts are with all those who are lonely this Christmas. Having a tough time, missing a loved one. You are not alone.

“Because as Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story reminds all of us to reach out to one another. To care for one another. And to look after those around us.

“This Christmas, I will be hoping for peace, particularly in the Middle East as the birthplace of the Christmas story.

“I’ll be looking towards a better, brighter future for every person and celebrating the joy and wonder that Christmas brings.

“So, from my family to yours, I hope you have a very merry Christmas.”

Read more:
Starmer heading abroad for New Year’s Day
No surprise PM ‘badly needs holiday’ – analysis

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Opposition, has also shared a Christmas message.

It strikes a similar tone to Sir Keir’s, although shares more personal anecdotes.

For example, the Tory leader says Christmas is her “very favourite time of year” due to “having lots of family around, seeing my friends, eating, drinking, having fun, making merry”.

She goes on to thank everyone in the country for “supporting each other”, and encouraging people to “support all of those people who need our assistance”.

Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, paid tribute to young carers in his Christmas message.

He looked after his sick mother as he was growing up, and tried to get a Christmas number one with a song raising awareness of young carers.

Sir Ed said: “Carers embody the Christmas spirit of love, selflessness and generosity.

“So I hope we can all take some time to think of them, and keep them in our hearts.”

In a year of very serious political shifts, there were still a load of very unserious WTF moments to gawk at.

In no particular order, here are some of the standouts.

‘They’re eating the dogs’

A completely unverified rumour on social media about Haitian immigrants eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio, made it all the way to Donald Trump, who shocked the world when he took a moment during his presidential debate against Kamala Harris to exclaim: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs.”

He went on: “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating… they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.

“And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

Ms Harris, who could be seen laughing and saying “this is unbelievable”, responded when it was her turn: “Talk about extreme.”

The rumours were also stoked by the incoming vice president JD Vance, who said people have “had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country”.

Later, he told CNN: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

Soggy Sunak

The nation watched in disbelief as Rishi Sunak stood outside Number 10 to announce a general election in May.

Not because of the announcement itself – but rather because the then prime minister braved the pouring rain without an umbrella.

Mr Sunak’s shoulders could be seen getting soggier and soggier during his eight-minute speech, leaving many wondering whether it was a tactic akin to Tony Blair showing his dedication to the country through sweaty blue shirts, or if it was simply an oversight.

Mr Sunak later explained his logic to locals in his constituency of Richmond, North Yorkshire, saying: “That’s our tradition, the prime minister, in the big moments, they call the election and they go out there.

“I thought, come rain or shine, it’s the right thing to do.

“But no pneumonia yet… my suit on the other hand… I’m not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London.”

He said the public kept handing him umbrellas in the days following the speech.

Sunak not being in any way relatable

Rishi Sunak probably thought he looked pretty cool when he slipped on his box-fresh pair of Adidas Sambas in April, pairing them with suit trousers and a white shirt.

But the public and the media totally burst his bubble after he was pictured wearing them at Downing Street.

He was accused of “ruining” an “eternally cool sneaker” by GQ, while other magazines rushed to offer lists of alternative trainers after Mr Sunak “killed” the Samba’s credibility.

It got so bad that he issued “a fulsome apology to the Samba community” via LBC Radio.

It’s not the worst thing a prime minister has had to apologise for in recent years – it’s perhaps the weirdest, though.

A couple of months later Mr Sunak, who was the wealthiest prime minister in the country’s history, tried to relate to the public’s cost of living struggles.

In an interview with ITV, Mr Sunak, the son of a doctor and pharmacist, explained that he went without “lots of things” as a child because his parents prioritised funding his and his siblings’ education.

Pressed for a specific example of something he missed out on, he said: “There’ll be all sorts of things that I would’ve wanted as a kid that I couldn’t have. Famously, Sky TV, so that was something that we never had growing up actually.”

Biden and Trump’s weird golf conversation

Few would have expected golf to be a major talking point in Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s long-awaited presidential debate.

But in one of its many bizarre moments, Mr Trump started bragging about his recent golfing accomplishments in an attempt to demonstrate his mental and physical competence.

He claimed he’d just won “two club championships, not even senior. Two regular club championships.”

“To do that,” he went on, “you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball a long way. And I do it.”

Nodding towards Mr Biden, Mr Trump added: “He doesn’t do it. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards. He challenged me to a golf match… he can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”

Mr Biden, four years Mr Trump’s senior, had been laughing throughout his competitor’s claims, giving the impression he may simply shrug them off and move onto more pressing matters.

“Look, I’d be happy to have a driving contest with him,” he said instead.

“I got my handicap when I was vice president down to a six.”

It was then Mr Trump’s turn to laugh.

“And by the way,” Mr Biden continued, “I told you before I’m happy to play golf with you if you can carry your own bag… think you can do it?”

“That’s the biggest lie, that he was six handicap,” Mr Trump responded, prompting Biden to revise the number to “an eight handicap”.

Finally Mr Trump who, need we remind you, brought up his golfing prowess in the presidential debate, said: “Let’s not act like children.”

Rees-Mogg stands awkwardly next to the bean man

Arch Brexiteer Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg had a challenging election night, becoming one of the most high-profile Tory backbenchers to lose their seat to a Labour candidate.

To add insult to injury, he learned the news while standing next to a fellow North East Somerset and Hanham candidate wearing a baked bean balaclava, who was running for The Monster Raving Loony Party.

At least he didn’t lose to him.

‘BOOORINNGG’

Nigel Farage is a divisive figure, but a meme born from his exchange with hecklers after the election has proved a hit with all sorts of people who are still using it to react to posts online.

The Reform UK leader repeatedly yelled “boring” at a protester who interrupted his speech after he won his Clacton seat.

It came after one heckler had already been kicked out.

“That’s alright. There’s still plenty of beer left in the pub, mate,” he told the first one.

“Have a lovely day. Bye bye! Lots of love,” he added as security escorted him away.

Trump brings everyone on stage

Donald Trump giving a second victory speech might have been surreal enough – but seeing a sea of people on stage with him in Florida made it feel a bit like a fever dream.

All five of his children were there with their partners, along with wife Melania and two of his grandchildren, as was future vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha.

Then there were a load of key members of Mr Trump’s team and political allies, including billionaire backer Elon Musk. Fairly normal so far… but it got stranger.

Further down the line there was MMA boss Dana White and pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau.

The former even took to the mic at one point to declare Mr Trump was “the most resilient, hard-working man I’ve ever met in my life”.

DeChambeau was a bit more shy, with the president-elect awkwardly calling him up mid-victory speech.

Raygun’s breakdancing breaks the internet

Breakdancing’s Olympic debut made headlines for all the wrong reasons after Australian competitor Raygun’s unconventional moves failed to land her a single point with the judges.

The dancer was mocked relentlessly on social media after completing what has widely been described as “a kangaroo dance”, at one point raising one leg while standing and leaning back with her arms bent toward her ears.

The 37-year-old actually apologised to the breaking community after going viral for the routines, saying she didn’t mean to bring it any backlash.

But she defended her work – insisting she did take the competition “very seriously” – and hit out at the “devastating” abuse she had suffered since.

In November she revealed she had quit competing altogether because of all the criticism.

But love it or hate it, her routine will go down in Olympic history.

Snoop Dogg’s outfits at the Olympics

Speaking of Olympic history…

Iconic rapper Snoop Dogg was a special correspondent for Sky’s partner network NBC throughout the summer games, and didn’t exactly shy away from the spotlight.

The American star subverted expectations by ditching his typical baggy rapper fits and lengthy chains for some Olympic-themed outfits.

Most notably, he turned up for the equestrian in full dressage attire.

He also donned tops featuring some of his country’s most talented athletes, such as beach volleyball player Kelly Cheng and tennis ace Coco Gauff.

Body bags at softplay

“Shocked” parents complained when Rugrats and Halfpints in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, decided to hang realistic-looking body bags for Halloween.

Pictures showed how they resembled human bodies covered in black plastic – some wrapped with tape marked “Caution” and “Danger” – hanging upside down from poles adjoining one of the soft play structures.

One parent who took their child there told Sky News: “When I saw them I did a double take – surely that can’t be what I think it is? I just didn’t want to have to explain to my kid what they were.

“I spoke to some other parents after who were as shocked as I was that it was deemed appropriate. It’s a great soft play, but that did shock me a bit!”

A spokesperson for the play area told Sky News they had not meant to “cause distress”.

‘Let’s go to the Oasis reunion! Wait – how much?’

2024 marked the year long-time fans of the Gallagher brothers finally got their reunion announcement.

“This is it, this is happening,” read a tweet from the official band account.

There was a five-day wait between the announcement and the ticket sale for the UK and Ireland gigs, and by the time they went up, almost everyone you know was in the Ticketmaster queue.

Fans waited for hours in the virtual line to find that standard tickets, originally worth £148, were being sold at a dynamic pricing level of £355.

The band said they didn’t know dynamic pricing was going to be used, while Ticketmaster stated “all ticket prices are set by the tour”.

Liam Gallagher essentially told fans to stop crying their hearts out, responding to one complainant on X saying: “SHUTUP.”

The system was scrapped for Oasis’ US shows, for which tickets came out later on.

Don’t look back in anger, hey?

Drunk driver smashes into PM’s country home

Matthew Wootten, 44, did exactly that on 25 June, while Rishi Sunak was PM, deliberately steering his white Volkswagen Scirocco into the Victory Gate of Chequers in Buckinghamshire.

Wootten, who seriously injured himself and caused £38,000 worth of damage, was nearly three times over the alcohol limit and was subsequently jailed for two years and eight months and disqualified from driving for 40 months.

Liz Truss plagued by lettuce – again

The UK’s shortest-serving prime minister cut a relaxed figure as she took questions from an audience in Beccles, Suffolk, as part of her book tour.

Little did she know, a banner featuring a lettuce and the words “I crashed the economy” was being unfurled behind her.

The vegetable pictured was a reference to a lettuce the Daily Star live-streamed, to see if it wilted before her premiership in 2022 ended (the lettuce was ultimately victorious).

The banner was the work of left-wing campaign group Led By Donkeys, who Ms Truss later accused of trying to “supress free speech”.

When she realised the banner was behind her, the former prime minister said “that’s not funny”, gathered up her notes, took her microphone off and walked off the stage.

Much of the nation – and even a few people there – seemingly did think it was funny.

Banana sells for millions – then the buyer eats it

When news broke in November that a banana duct-taped to a wall had sold for $6.2m (£4.9m) at an auction in New York, it raised a few eyebrows.

It raised even more when the buyer, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, decided to eat the banana.

But don’t worry – it wasn’t the banana itself that was worth millions.

The banana, duct tape and the wall made up a conceptual art piece, called Comedian, which became a viral sensation after Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan debuted it at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019.

So what Mr Sun actually did was purchase a certificate of authenticity and the authority to duct-tape any banana to a wall and call it Comedian, meaning he can replace the banana with another one.

No harm, no foul… now the $6.2m is totally worth it.

Sir Keir calls for the ‘return of the sausages’

Sir Keir Starmer was speaking about the need for a ceasefire in Gaza while delivering his first Labour conference speech as prime minister, when he made an unfortunate error.

He appeared to accidentally call for “the return of the sausages” before quickly correcting himself to say “the return of the hostages”.

Kendrick and Drake diss tracks

A rapid exchange of insults between Kendrick Lamar and Drake – two of the biggest names in modern rap – will no doubt go down in the genre’s history.

The beef had been bubbling behind the scenes for some time, but Canadian rapper Drake took it public in April with the diss track Push Ups, in which he mocked Lamar’s collaborations with the singer Taylor Swift and the pop group Maroon 5.

Soon after Drake followed with a second track, Taylor Made Freestyle, in which he called Lamar a coward for failing to respond to his track.

It wasn’t surprising that Lamar shot back – but the contents of his lyrics were shocking.

His first response, Euphoria, started fairly tamely compared to what would happen later.

“I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress,” he sings.

But his next one, Meet the Grahams, dug deeper, listing a bunch of ways Drake was supposedly letting his family members down.

That was bad, but yet another follow-up from Lamar – Not Like Us – made some serious allegations.

Not Like Us was the number one song in the US for two weeks and reached sixth in the UK charts, and has since been nominated for four Grammys.

And while the diss tracks have long dried up, Drake has filed legal petitions over Lamar’s last one.

‘David Cameron can kiss my ass’

Eccentric Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t hold back when Sky News asked for her thoughts on David Cameron in February.

The former prime minister, who was foreign secretary at the time, had urged Congress to approve more aid funding for Ukraine.

Ms Taylor Greene did not appreciate it.

“David Cameron needs to worry about his own country and, frankly, he can kiss my ass,” she said.

In a post on X later on Wednesday, she said his remarks would not “bully me into funding the war in Ukraine”.

In April, much to Ms Greene’s dismay, the $60.8bn funding package was approved by the House.

“This is the sellout of America today,” she said afterwards.

‘I will f*** you up for ever’

Lord Cameron just couldn’t catch a break this year.

Writing in his memoir, which came out in October, Boris Johnson claimed he was having a conversation with Lord Cameron ahead of the 2016 Brexit vote and told him he was considering voting leave.

Johnson wrote: “‘If you do that,’ he said – and these were his exact words – ‘I will f*** you up forever’.”

When Sky News asked Lord Cameron about the quote, he said that was “not my recollection”.

“The recollection I have is that we had a proper discussion – an argument – heated at times,” he said, going on to explain where their views differed.

He did concede that the argument, or as he then put it, “robust conversation” – was “all quite a long time ago” and laughed it off.

This roundup shows what an absolute whirlwind 2024 really was. Take a look at how it compared to 2023’s maddest moments.