Trump’s Scotland course will not host Open Championship because of commercial ‘challenges’

Published

5 months ago

March 31, 2025

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Donald Trump’s dreams of hosting golf’s Open Championship at his Turnberry course in Scotland will not be realised until the course is logistically and commercially viable, the game’s governing body has said.

Mark Darbon, chief executive of the R&A, told Sky News Turnberry is a “challenging” venue and, despite suggestions of diplomatic pressure from London and Washington, it has no immediate plans to schedule a championship at the Ayrshire venue.

Mr Trump has made no secret of his desire to return the Open to a course he bought in 2014, with his son Eric Trump leading efforts for it to stage a first championship since 2009.

Sources close to Mr Trump’s golf interests have told Sky News the Open would be a valuable bargaining tool in the UK’s trade negotiations with the US, and the King went as far as to mention Turnberry in the invitation for a state visit hand delivered by the prime minister last month.

In his first broadcast interview since becoming chief executive last November, Mr Darbon said logistics and finances currently rule out a course that may have been outgrown by the demands of a modern Open.

“The area where there’s a bit of challenge is around the logistical and commercial side. The last time we were at Turnbury in 2009 we had 120,000 people there,” he said.

“These days a modern Open caters for 250,000 people-plus, and so we need the road and rail infrastructure to get our fan base there. We need hotel accommodation for the 60,000 bed nights we need to stage our championship and it’s challenging at that venue.”

Mr Darbon did not deny there was pressure to consider Turnberry, and indicated that politics, and the prospect of Mr Trump overshadowing any event, would also be a factor.

“We need to be confident that the focus will be on the sport and we need to ensure that the venue works for our requirement,” he added.

Competition for Turnberry is likely to increase from larger, less remote facilities.

The R&A draws Open venues from a rota of courses, with Royal Portrush staging this year’s championship following a sellout return after almost 70 years in 2019. Mr Darbon confirmed Portmarnock near Dublin is being actively considered for the first-ever Open outside the UK.

Maximising income from the Open matters because the R&A, which governs the game everywhere save the US, uses the revenue to fund a grassroots game still enjoying a post-COVID boom.

“We work with over 140 countries around the world, and in those markets there are now more than 62 million golfers, more than ever before,” Mr Darbon said.

“Some 40-odd million are playing golf regularly on nine and 18-hole golf courses, another 20 million are playing what we would call non-traditional formats like driving ranges, adventure golf, simulator golf. So the game is actually in rude health and our job is to continue to foster that and support it over time.”

He is optimistic too that an end may be in sight for golf’s own trade war, between the US PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian-funded LIV Golf league, a multi-billion dollar schism in the men’s professional game that has enriched scores of players while alienating many fans.

“There’s been too much talk about cash and not enough talk about competition and courses and all the other wonderful things that underpin our sport. So we’re optimistic for some positive change on that front. We’re not a negotiating table, but our job is to try and influence those discussions,” he said.

The Open and golf’s other major championships, including next month’s Masters, have benefitted from the dispute as the only platforms for all of the best male players, and Mr Darbon says the game retains its lucrative appeal to business & sponsors.

“I think golf is maintaining its commercial appeal and I think there are a number of things that support that,” he said.

“The game has a really rich history and heritage, the values of the sport are really strong, and brands of businesses can continue to tell really rich stories about the game of golf that links to their own products and services. On top of that, golf has a genuinely global audience.”

Among them is the world’s most powerful man, his ambitions to host the Open still unfulfilled.

UK

‘I’m deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist’

Published

5 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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'I'm deprived of my UK citizenship but I'm not a convicted terrorist'

Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) went from a jihadist movement once aligned to al Qaeda to forming the official government of Syria.

It was a monumental transformation for them, their country and the wider Middle East.

But potentially too for British people who went to Syria – and who were stripped of their citizenship as a result, on the grounds of national security.

Tauqir Sharif, better known as Tox, went to Syria in 2012 as an aid worker. He was accused of being part of a group affiliated with al Qaeda, which he denies, and the then-home secretary Amber Rudd deprived him of his British citizenship in 2017.

“As of now, I am deprived of my UK citizenship but I’m not a convicted terrorist – and the reason for that is because we refused, we boycotted, the SIAC [Special Immigration Appeals Commission] secret courts, which don’t allow you to see any of the evidence presented against you,” he said.

“And one of the things that I always called for was, look, put me in front of a jury, let’s have an open hearing.”

HTS is still a proscribed terrorist organisation but the British government has now established relations with it.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to Damascus to meet the jihadist-turned-Syrian interim president – the man who swapped his nom de guerre of al Jolani for Ahmed al Sharaa.

If the UK government takes HTS off the terror list, what does that mean for those who lost their citizenship after being accused of being part of it?

People who joined HTS are only a subset among the scores of people who have had their citizenship revoked – a tool the UK government has been quick to use.

According to a report by the Parliamentary Joint Human Rights Committee, the UK “uses deprivation of citizenship orders more than almost any country in the world”.

The peak of that was in 2017, and mainly in relation to Syria – especially in the case of people joining Islamic State, perhaps most famously Shamima Begum.

And because people cannot be made entirely stateless, and need to have a second nationality, or be potentially eligible for one, there are worries of racism in who the orders apply to.

Countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh offer dual nationality, whereas other nations do not. In 2022, the Institute of Race Relations said “the vast majority of those deprived are Muslim men with South Asian or Middle Eastern/North African heritage”.

Legal grey areas

Sky News submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Home Office asking for a breakdown of second nationalities of those deprived of citizenship, but was refused twice on national security grounds.

The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, told Sky News there are issues around transparency.

“I do think there is a problem when you have people whose relationship with the country that they’re left with is really technical and they may never have realised that they had that citizenship before and may never gone to that country,” he said.

“Me and my predecessors have all said, owing to how frequently this power is used, it should be something that the independent reviewer should have the power to review. I asked, my predecessor asked, we’ve both been told no, so I agree there’s a lack of transparency.”

No automatic reversal

Even if the government does remove HTS from the terror list, it would not automatically invalidate decisions to deprive people of their citizenship.

Macer Gifford gave up a career as a banker in London to join the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as a foreign volunteer between 2015 and 2017.

He told Sky News that decisions “made years ago in the interest of the British public have to remain”.

“We can’t sort of go through previous cases nitpicking through it, wasting time and money to bring it up to date,” he added.

“We can’t be naive because the intent to go out, the decision to go in itself is a huge decision for them. So it shows commitment when they’re there, they then, if they take an active participation in the organisations that they’ve been accused of joining, again, that involves training and perseverance and dedication to the cause.”

But those born and raised in Britain, who joined the same cause, and lost their citizenship as a result, might reasonably ask why that should remain the case.

UK

Criminals could be banned from pubs and sports grounds under new plans

Published

5 hours ago

August 24, 2025

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Criminals could be banned from pubs and sports grounds under new plans

Criminals face being banned from pubs, sports grounds and concerts under new government plans to give judges powers to pass tougher community sentences.

The new measures, which would apply to people in England and Wales, “should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay”, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said.

Offenders’ freedom could also be curtailed with limits on driving, travel bans and restriction zones confining them to specific areas, the government said.

Similar measures could also apply to prisoners let out on licence, while drug testing would be expanded to include all those released, rather than just those with a history of substance misuse.

While judges are currently able to impose limited bans for specific crimes, such as football bans for crimes committed inside a stadium on match day, the new measures would allow for such bans to be handed down for any offence.

The justice secretary said: “When criminals break society’s rules, they must be punished.

“Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too.

“These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this government, crime does not pay.

“Rightly, the public expect the government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing.”

The proposals are part of the Labour government’s efforts to tackle overcrowding in prisons.

Back in June, it emerged that prisoners were to be transferred to lower security jails in an effort to ease overcrowding, as part of a new measure quietly unveiled by the government.

Sky News reported earlier this month how the prison system was close to collapse on a number of occasions between autumn 2023 and summer 2024, according to an independent review by former chief inspector of prisons, Dame Anne Owers.

The report said there was a systemic problem which has led to recurring prison capacity crises over the last 18 years.

UK

Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Published

18 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Protesters have gathered across the country as groups demonstrated against asylum seeker housing and were met by anti-racism campaigners.

Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were held in England, Scotland and Wales, including in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Aberdeen, Mold, Perth, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley and Canary Wharf.

Counter-protests were also organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism.

In Bristol, mounted police separated the two groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.

Police kept around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in English flags away from roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Horley, Surrey.

One man, wearing a West Ham United football shirt, was held by police as he yelled: “You’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here” at anti-racism protesters.

Anti-immigration protesters also chanted: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson” in support of the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.

The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with “No they’re f****** not” from the other side of the street.

In Perth, protesters gathered outside the Radisson Hotel.

The anti-migration protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Perth is full – empty the hotels” and “get them out”.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland said it had achieved “victory” in Perth, with more than 200 gathering to oppose the Abolish Asylum System demonstration.

In Liverpool, a dispersal order was issued to try and contain the protests.

Saturday’s events come amid continued tension around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers.

Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.

In the wake of those protests, Epping Forest District Council sought and won an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated there – a decision which the government is seeking permission to appeal.