‘The least bad option’: Why concerned mum may quit UK and head to Trump’s America
Following the US election result, internet searches for how to move away from soon-to-be president Donald Trump’s America have spiked.
From Australia to Canada, voters concerned about some of his more divisive policies appear to be putting some genuine thought into finding a new home.
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But back in the UK, there’s one concerned mother who thinks heading back to the States might be the best option for her children.
Liana Fricker, who lives in Surrey, having moved from California more than 20 years ago, has two sons who are diagnosed with ADHD.
Aged 14 and 10, they attend a private school – one “very good” at working with young people with the condition.
But with fees set to climb 15.4% in January when the government scraps the VAT exemption on private schools, she claims she’ll soon be “priced out”.
Liana says she’s been left with no option but to withdraw at least one of her sons from the school. It means sending him to a state school or heading back to the US, where she believes her family would have more choice.
“It’s ironic,” she says. “Because, yes, even with Donald Trump, I have to consider what’s the least bad option.”
In the US, she says the concept of government policy dictating her school choice is an alien one. Instead, there’s an idea “everyone is free to do what they want to do within the law and the Constitution”.
“If you send your children to private school, you get a tax rebate as a thank you for paying tax and not using the service.”
Liana is clear there are “great” state schools in her local area, but the trouble would be making sure her sons were accepted to one – ideally together.
Her 14-year-old is already studying for his GCSEs, and she’s concerned his education could be disrupted. He could have to study entirely new subjects if the same options aren’t offered.
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Private schools ‘will adapt’ to VAT tax
He stands to be one of the thousands of private school pupils who critics fear may be displaced by the government’s policy.
Labour claim the change will fund around 6,500 new teachers in state schools, and the Treasury says it does “not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the number of pupils attending private schools overall”.
But Liana says it will make “everything a lot harder”.
“I think the long-term viability of private education goes out the window,” she says, as parents mull just how long they can afford to keep up with the fees.
And it’s not just private school pupils who stand to feel the impact.
She’s worried children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) – like her sons’ ADHD – who are “priced out of private school” will now “have to go overstretch the resources in the other schools”.
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“If I was a parent in a state school, I would be raging because that’s what’s going to happen.”
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Children with SEN are only exempt from VAT on private school fees if they have a local authority funded Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which places them in a particular school.
It does not account for children whose parents decide to enrol them in private schools due to their needs.
This is the case for Liana, who chose a particular school to suit her children.
“It’s not so much how the private school system helps you – it’s because it gives you choice,” she says.
Liana wants a “fair, impartial, transparent impact assessment across the country”, making sure ministers understand what the policy means for pupils and schools alike.
The government said an impact assessment has taken place, published with the budget at the end of October. It’s been accused of “rushing” the policy through, given the budget came just two months before it comes into effect.
But a source stressed the impact assessment used analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which they consider fair, impartial, and transparent.
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A government spokesperson added: “We want to ensure all children have the best chance in life to succeed. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help to raise the revenue needed to break down the barriers of opportunity for children and young people across the country.
“We do not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the number of pupils attending private schools overall. The number of pupils in private schools has remained steady since 2000, despite around a 75% real term increase in private school fees since that time.”
For Liana’s children, that “best chance in life” may now be across the Atlantic.
Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed in papal regalia on his Truth Social platform – just 11 days after the death of Pope Francis.
Uploaded onto his account early on Saturday morning, it shows the US president with a large gold cross on a chain around his neck.
From there, it was published, without comment or explanation, on the White House X and Instagram accounts and, though it drew fierce criticism, it was liked more than 100,000 times.
It comes just a few days after the world leader joked that he’d like to be the pontiff.
Last week, he was asked by reporters on the White House lawn who he would like to succeed Francis and he replied: “I’d like to be Pope. That would be my number one choice.”
He went on to say that he did not have a preference, but there was a cardinal in New York who was “very good”.
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‘I’d like to be pope’
Mr Trump was quickly accused of mocking Pope Francis’s death, but, by noon, UK time, the post had been liked more than 58,000 times on Instagram.
User comments, however, were mostly negative, with one saying that the image “isn’t funny. It’s not satire. And it’s not harmless”.
Another simply called it “disgusting”, while other reactions included “disturbing”, “disrespectful” and “offensive”.
On X, where the picture was liked more than 78,000 times, a user commented that Mr Trump was “making a mockery of the pious”, while another judged it “not a wise decision”.
The conclave to select a new pontiff will begin on 7 May after the death of Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Argentinian, who became pope in 2013, died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 due to a stroke and heart failure.
Last weekend, the president was criticised for wearing a non-traditional blue suit for Francis’s Vatican funeral and chewing gum during the ceremony.
However, his meeting in St Peter’s Basilica with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the outdoor mass got under way was dubbed “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy.
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in St Peter’s Basilica. Pic: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
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Mr Trump’s own religious views have long been a matter of speculation.
He was raised as a Presbyterian and publicly identified with it for most of his adult life, before, in October 2020, he renounced it and said he now considered himself a non-denominational Christian.
Many have questioned the depth of his faith, but that hasn’t stopped him appealing to conservative Christians and the Christian right, particularly evangelicals, some of whom have helped him get elected twice.
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Earlier this year, Mr Trump shared a bizarre AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform showcasing what appeared to be a vision of Gaza under his proposed plan.
The footage showed the area transformed into a Middle Eastern paradise with exotic beaches, Dubai-style skyscrapers, luxury yachts and people partying – and featured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk.
One of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers broke down in tears and swore on the witness stand as a sexual abuse trial continues.
Warning: This article contains references to sexual assault
Miriam Haley claims the former Hollywood mogul forced oral sex on her in July 2006.
The case is being retried after the appeals court overturned his conviction last year.
She was working as a production assistant at the time.
Weinstein has strenuously denied all allegations, and Ms Haley also testified at Weinstein’s initial trial.
Miriam Haley. AP file pic
Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday as he appeared for his retrial. Pic: AP
The 48-year-old was testifying in a Manhattan court when Weinstein’s defence lawyer Jennifer Bonjean questioned her account of the incident.
In court, Ms Bonjean asked why Ms Haley would agree to Weinstein’s invitation to his apartment after testifying about his previous behaviour, including her alleging that he barged into her home.
Ms Haley then became emotional after being asked how her clothes came off before Weinstein allegedly pulled out a tampon and performed oral sex on her.
She said Weinstein took off her clothing, but she didn’t recall the details, before Ms Bonjean asked: “You removed your clothes, right?”
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Ms Haley then told jurors that Weinstein “was the one who raped me, not the other way around” – to which his lawyer said: “That is for the jury to decide.”
She then started crying and said: “No, it’s not for the jury to decide. It’s my experience. And he did that to me.”
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reported that Ms Haley said during the exchange: “Don’t tell me I wasn’t raped by that f*****g asshole.”
Judge Curtis Farber then halted questioning and sent jurors on a break. Ms Haley’s eyes were red and her face was glistening as she left the witness stand.
In February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of sexually assaulting Ms Haley – along with raping former actor Jessica Mann in a New York hotel in 2013 – and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
His conviction for the two crimes was overturned in April after an appeals court ruled the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
After the appeal ruling, Weinstein was charged with raping one woman and forcing oral sex on two others.
Two of the charges are those he faced during the original trial, while the third – one of the charges of forcing oral sex on Kaja Sokola – was added last year.
Weinstein denies all allegations, and his lawyers argue his accusers had consensual sexual encounters.
Regardless of the outcome of the retrial, he will remain in prison over a 2022 conviction in Los Angeles for a separate count of rape. His lawyers are also appealing this sentence.
Timing’s everything for Donald Trump.
The time for sacking Mike Waltz was, clearly, not before the 100-day milestone – the measure of his performance in office.
The national security adviser had his card marked from the day the ‘Signalgate’ scandal broke.
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In any other government, at any other time, political expediency would have demanded his immediate sacking.
To have shared sensitive military information on a group chat is a most reckless error of judgement.
Bad enough that the information reached the inbox of a US journalist – who knows who else might have accessed the information in what is a commercially available app? China, Russia? Iran, the very country that backs the Houthi rebels who were under attack?
Initially, Donald Trump defended Waltz as a “good man” who had “learned a lesson”. The president will have known, though, that he’s a man who has fundamentally weakened him.
Waltz’s mistake put the lives of US service personnel at risk and called into question the credibility of his ultimate boss.
The emoji-laden group chat read like the stuff of excited youngsters breathlessly sharing gossip.
It was recklessness over responsibility at the heart of government, and it reflected on the commander-in-chief and his judgement in appointing Waltz in the first place.
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‘Nobody was texting war plans’ – Hegseth
To keep him in post for weeks following the scandal looked like an acceptance, of sorts, and it didn’t look good. If there are questions about the circumstances surrounding Waltz, there are, too, about Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth was also part of the Signalgate group chat and more.
Separately, he shared messages on Signal with his wife and brother about military strikes. Both are involved with the Pentagon, but are nowhere near the security clearance typically required to access that kind of detail.
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If Waltz committed a sackable offence, why didn’t Hegseth?
It’s a question that won’t go away.
The answer, I suspect, is that Donald Trump invested considerable political capital in forcing Hegseth into position, in spite of strong opposition.
In a story that acknowledges weakness at the heart of government, Donald Trump has his limits.
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