Labour’s Emily Thornberry and mayor of London Sadiq Khan honoured in New Year list
A veteran Labour MP and the long-standing mayor of London are among a handful of politicians named in the King’s New Year Honours list.
Former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, who has been made a dame, appears on the list alongside Sadiq Khan, who has been made a knight after securing a record third term as mayor of London.
Former Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena – who was environment secretary for a matter of days under Liz Truss – was also handed a knighthood, as was former schools’ minister Nick Gibb.
Mr Gibb served at the Department for Education under four Conservative prime ministers – Lord Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the opening of the £200m Siemens’ Rail Village in Goole. Pic:PA
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Dame Emily, who now chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, told Sky News she was “surprised but delighted” by her appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
She said: “I do think about my grandmothers, my English grandmother and my Irish grandmother, neither of whom were really even allowed to work once they got married. What they would make of this, I really don’t know.”
She added: “My husband was knighted a few years ago and I’ve never been comfortable calling myself lady Nugee, you know, using his title. So I’m pretty pleased to have my own title that I can use. I think Dame Emily’s alright.”
She also recounted telling drag queen Ella Vaday that she was “going to be a dame too”, to which her friend, who was appearing in a pantomime at the time, asked where on.
“Everywhere darling, everywhere!”, Dame Emily replied.
Andy Street, the former West Midlands mayor, was also made a knight after being defeated in his mayoral race in May.
Sir Andy, who was elected as the region’s first mayor in 2017, said he had only been “the front man” and the honour was “an accolade for the people in the West Midlands who made a success of the combined authority and the mayoralty”.
He said: “Behind it lies a huge endeavour to set this up from scratch and make it the success that it is.
“It was a huge honour to be able to do that on behalf of citizens across the West Midlands.”
The newly knighted Sir Sadiq said he was “truly humbled” by the honour.
He added: “I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I would one day be mayor of London.”
A Change.org petition to “stop” his knighthood, kicked off by Conservative London councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman, surpassed 200,000 signatures earlier this month.
Several former MPs also received honours in the list.
Former Labour MP Kate Hollern, who lost her Blackburn seat to independent candidate Adnan Hussain in July, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Lord Mike Katz, the national chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement who was recently ennobled by Sir Keir Starmer, has been made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
There were also gongs for Tamara Finkelstein, the permanent secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and former leader of Welsh Labour and South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael.
Mr Michael was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), while Ms Finkelstein became a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has warned that crypto will increasingly threaten traditional financial markets’ stability as the industry grows and becomes more entwined with traditional finance players.
“We cannot rule out that future sharp drops in crypto prices could have knock-on effects on our financial system,” ESMA’s executive director Natasha Cazenave said in an April 8 statement to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
Cazenave noted, however, that crypto currently only accounts for 1% of global financial assets and is not yet significant enough to cause major “spillover effects” into traditional financial markets.
She warned that interconnections between crypto and traditional markets are rapidly growing — particularly in the more crypto-friendly US — and called for closer monitoring.
“Crypto-assets markets evolve quickly, in an often unpredictable manner, and we need to keep a close eye on these developments,” Cazenave said, adding:
“Turmoil, even in small markets, can originate or catalyze broader stability issues in our financial system.”
Cazenave’s concerns ranged from spot crypto exchange-traded funds and stablecoin use to hacks, scams and scandals — highlighting the recent $1.4 billion Bybit exploit and FTX’s collapse in November 2022.
Today in the ECON Committee, the role of crypto assets in relation to financial market stability was discussed. The European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) were present.
I raised a critical question about the digital euro.… pic.twitter.com/KST7FRBhFF
— Engin Eroglu (@EnginEroglu_FW) April 8, 2025
The European Union has already implemented several measures to safeguard against crypto risks, most notably the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation that was rolled out last year.
While Cazenave said MiCA marked a “breakthrough” for crypto regulation, she added that there is “no such thing as a safe crypto-asset” and that more rules may need to be implemented to mitigate future risks.
Related: EU could fine Elon Musk’s X $1B over illicit content, disinformation
Her comments come as both crypto and the stock markets have experienced double-digit falls over the last few weeks as the Trump administration continues to follow through on its tariff plans.
Europe lags US in crypto adoption
While crypto adoption has accelerated in the US, Cazenave noted that over 95% of European banks remain on the sidelines, with no involvement in crypto-related activities.
However, retail participation is on the rise, with an estimated 10% to 20% of European investors having crypto exposure, which is in line with growing global interest, Cazenave said.
Most reports measuring US crypto adoption suggest that the range of adoption is between 15% and 28% of the population.
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Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal has been granted final court approval to settle a class-action lawsuit for $11 million with Astrals non-fungible token (NFT) buyers.
Florida federal court judge Federico Moreno granted approval of the settlement between O’Neal and the class group led by Daniel Harper in an April 1 order made available on April 8.
The deal created a fund of up to $11 million for eligible class members and awarded $2.9 million in attorney fees and costs. All those who purchased Astrals NFTs from May 2022 to Jan. 15 and those who purchased the project’s native GLXY tokens up until mid-January are eligible.
“The fee sought by lead class counsel has been reviewed and approved as fair and reasonable by plaintiffs,” Moreno’s order read.
O’Neal was hit with the lawsuit in May 2023 over his founding and promotion of the Solana-based Astrals NFT project, which the suit claimed was an “offer and sale of unregistered securities.”
The class group said they bought Astrals NFTs and “suffered investment losses” due to O’Neal’s “conduct” in promoting the project.
In August, Judge Moreno recognized that the class suit had alleged that the former NBA player was a seller of the NFTs. O’Neal agreed to the settlement in November.
Screenshot from court order on final settlement. Source: Courtlistener
NFT sales slump
The Astrals NFT collection consisted of 10,000 unique 3D digital collectibles created in April 2022 by the artist Damien Guimoneau in a Solana-based project that promoted a virtual world where users could socialize and play with others, including the basketball star.
Related: NFT sales plunge 63% in Q1, but Pudgy Penguins, Doodles buck trend
There has been no activity or sales from the collection for the past two years, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea.
Overall, NFT sales are still in deep bear market territory, with just $27 million sold as of April 7, down from more than $2 billion per week at the end of 2021, according to CryptoSlam.
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