It has been 30 years since Blur’s bolshy brand of pop set the tone for the 1990s – a cultural and musical moment that became known as Cool Britannia.
Today the band’s frontman Damon Albarn thinks British isolation is decidedly uncool.
In government, he said, there are “a lot of people who are irretrievably tainted by Brexit and have not done the country a favour at all.
“And in fact they have made it more remote, and I think diminished us a bit,” he told Sky News.
According to Albarn, Brexit “definitely made it harder to tour but that feeds into that whole narrative about the value of the arts and creativity, and that’s been diminished.
“Brexit definitely hasn’t helped that.”
Blur’s new album, The Ballad of Darren, is their first since 2015, and the band’s ninth overall.
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It will be released in July, with first single The Narcissist released this week.
It sounds like somebody looking back – and distinctly like a Blur record.
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Image: Damon Albarn during Blur’s heyday in 1997. Pic: Ap
Blur were formed in 1988 – but it wasn’t until a few years later that they reached international fame with breakthrough albums such Modern Life Is Rubbish in 1993 and then Parklife.
In their youth, their battle with Oasis for No1 was marketing and tabloid heaven – their music the soundtrack of a generation.
Since then whole formats have come and gone – and three decades have gone by since their breakthrough album.
They can afford some middle-age perspective.
“Thirty years ago we didn’t have the internet,” Albarn notes.
“Thirty years ago people hadn’t even imagined social media…Thirty years ago it was very different politically… Thirty years ago people weren’t bothered about climate change…”
So why make a new record now?
“It’s a good question, maybe when people listen to it they will say that exact thing, why did they bother making any more music,” Albarn said.
Guitarist Graham Coxon added: “It’s not really anyone’s business, it’s what you do if you ever feel the need to make music, or be creative if any way.
Dame Judi Dench, Malala and Stanley Tucci are among another 100 famous names who have added their signatures to a letter urging Sir Keir Starmer to “end the UK’s complicity” in Gaza.
Sky News can exclusively reveal the Bond actress, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Conclave actor are among a host of public figures who have added their names to the letter.
Dua Lipa, Benedict Cumberbatch and Gary Lineker were among the celebrities to also urge the PM to use all available means to ensure full humanitarian access and broker an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
Celebrities and activists also read out all the names of children killed in Gaza in front of parliament.
But three weeks later, they say nothing has changed.
Image: Dua Lipa, Gary Lineker and Benedict Cumberbatch signed the letter in May. Pics: PA
Other new signatories include actors Florence Pugh and Russell Tovey, Dr Who star Ncuti Gatwa, singer Paolo Nutini, author Michael Rosen, musician Paul Weller, Little Mix members Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, broadcaster Fearne Cotton, Game of Thrones actress Carice van Houten, Harry Potter actress Bonnie Wright and ex-England rugby captain Chris Robshaw.
The letter urges Sir Keir to “take immediate action to end the UK’s complicity in the horrors of Gaza”, and says children are starving “while food and medicine sit just minutes away”, in reference to Israel blocking aid into the territory.
It says 71,000 children under four are “acutely malnourished” and those who survive starvation “wake up to bombs falling on them”, with more than 15,000 children killed in the conflict so far.
Image: Ncuti Gatwa, who plays Dr Who, has signed the letter. Pic: Reuters
Image: Actress Florence Pugh has also signed the letter. Pic: Reuters
Image: Actor Russell Tovey is a signatory too. Pic: Reuters
“Violence stamped with UK inaction – flown with parts shipped from British factories to Israel – could be obliterating families in seconds,” the letter adds.
“You can’t call it ‘intolerable’, yet do nothing.
“Every moment this continues, is another moment children die on our watch.
“History is written in moments of moral clarity. This is one. The world is watching and history will not forget. The children of Gaza cannot wait another minute.
“Prime minister, what will you choose? Complicity in war crimes, or the courage to act?”
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1:40
Steve Coogan: It has to stop
What has Starmer said and done about Gaza?
In September, the UK suspended about 30 arms export licences to Israel, but government export licensing figures from May show the UK approved licences for £127.6m worth of military equipment from October to December 2024 – more than the total between 2020 and 2023.
Since the first letter was sent, Sir Keir has called Israel’s actions in Gaza – both the blockade of aid and strikes – “appalling and intolerable”.
Some of his own MPs are pressuring him to take further action against Israel and call the 20-month war – which started when Hamas killed 1,195 people in Israel and took 250 hostage – a genocide, but he has not used those words.
On 10 June, the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway sanctioned far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian civilians”.
They are banned from entering the UK and are now subject to a freeze on UK assets and director disqualifications.
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Gaza crisis ‘acute’ and continuing
Last week, Sir Keir said more RAF jets, including Typhoons and air-to-air refuelers, were being sent to the Middle East after Israel and Iran attacked each other.
On Tuesday, Sir Keir told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby he is “worried about the impact” escalation between the two countries will have on Gaza.
Josie Naughton, co-founder and CEO of Choose Love, said: “Since we urged the government to end its complicity in the horrors of Gaza, more people have added their voice to our call. We cannot be silent while children are being killed and families are being starved.
“It took us 18 hours to read the 15,613 names of children known to be killed in Gaza. Every single one of them was someone’s whole universe. Every one of them deserved better.
“The situation is changing by the second, but until the UK government has halted all arms sales and licences to Israel, ensured that humanitarian aid can reach people starving inside Gaza and stopped the killing, they will not have done enough.
“History will remember how we acted in this moment. We beg Keir Starmer to end the UK’s complicity in these horrors.”
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A government spokesperson said:“We strongly oppose the expansion of military operations in Gaza and call on the Israeli government to cease its offensive and immediately allow for unfettered access to humanitarian aid.
“The denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza is unacceptable and risks breaching international humanitarian law.”
The spokesperson added: “Last year, we suspended export licences to Israel for items used in military operations in Gaza and continue to refuse licences for military goods that could be used by Israel in the current conflict.
“We urge all parties to urgently agree a ceasefire agreement and work towards a permanent and sustainable peace.”
R Kelly was hospitalised after prison officials gave him an overdose of medication, his lawyers have claimed – as part of what they say is an ongoing assassination plot.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is currently serving time at the Federal Correctional Institute in Butner, North Carolina, after being convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in 2021.
A year later, he was found guilty on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex.
The 58-year-old was taken to hospital on Friday after prison staff “administered an overdose of his medication”, according to a court document filed by his lawyer.
The document, filed on Tuesday, reads: “Mr. Kelly’s life is in danger, and that danger is coming from Bureau of Prisons officials and their actions.
“Mr. Kelly needs this Court’s intervention. His life actually depends on it.”
Nicole Blank Becker, one of Kelly’s lawyers, said he is in solitary confinement and that she spoke with him on Monday.
“What is happening right now with him is insane,” she said. “I hope that this really results in someone, somewhere, somehow getting ahold of him today and getting him back in the hospital.”
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that “for privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues”.
“Additionally, the Bureau of Prisons does not comment on pending litigation or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings,” they added.
The allegation is the latest in a line of similar claims from the singer’s legal team, who last week filed a motion accusing the Bureau of Prisons of instructing another inmate to kill Kelly.
A motion filed by Kelly’s legal team claimed Mikeal Glenn Stine, who is alleged to be a member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang and has a terminal cancer diagnosis, was given a chance to “to live out the last of those months as a free man” in exchange for killing the singer.
The next day, his legal team filed additional material saying he had been moved to solitary confinement and denied access to his lawyer.
Prosecutors rejected the claims as “repugnant”.
Their written response said: “Kelly has never taken responsibility for his years of sexually abusing children, and he probably never will.
“Undeterred, Kelly now asks this Court to release him from incarceration indefinitely under the guise of a fanciful conspiracy.”
Gary Glitter will stay in prison after the Parole Board refused the disgraced singer’s bid to be released.
Glitter, 81, was recalled to jail less than six weeks after he was released halfway through his 16-year sentence in 2023 for breaching his licence conditions by allegedly viewing downloaded images of children.
He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment in 2015 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting three schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
The Parole Board last year said it was “not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public” after a hearing held behind closed doors.
Image: Glitter was jailed in 2015 Pic: PA
A spokesman on Tuesday said his release was refused again following a “paper review”.
“Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community,” a statement said.
“A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
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“Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.”
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Gadd, will be eligible for a further review at a date set by the Ministry of Justice. His sentence expires in February 2031.
He was made bankrupt earlier this year after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman who sued him for abusing her when she was 12 years old.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law and public inquiries at Slater and Gordon, who represented the woman, told Sky News the Parole Board has made “the right decision”.
He added: “My client is relieved at this ruling but apprehensive about having to go through the merry-go-round of Gadd coming up for parole again, and the fear of him being let out on licence.
“This is unfair on victims and it would be better if they were assured that he would serve the rest of his sentence.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam, where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.