All posts tagged: Pitches

Politics Home Article | Wes Streeting And Andy Burnham Set Out Their Labour Leadership Pitches

Politics Home Article | Wes Streeting And Andy Burnham Set Out Their Labour Leadership Pitches

Published by Sam Flores

4 min read2 hr Former health secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham have begun to set out their pitches for the direction of the Labour Party, as they prepare to stand in a future leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer. On Saturday, Streeting said he will stand in any upcoming leadership contest and called for a “bigger politics” and a “battle of ideas”, while Burnham said he wanted to “save” the Labour Party and get it “closer” to working-class communities again. The Parliamentary Labour Party was plunged into crisis after the party’s disastrous results in last week’s local and devolved government elections. More than 90 MPs have since called for the prime minister to resign or set out a timetable for doing so, and five ministers, including one Cabinet minister, have resigned from their posts. A formal leadership challenge has not yet been launched to topple Starmer, but Streeting and Burnham have now both made clear their intentions to stand as contenders. Streeting resigned as health secretary on …

Mint creator pitches spin-off for key character and addresses future

Mint creator pitches spin-off for key character and addresses future

Published by Daniella Wilson

As new BBC drama Mint arrives on screens, the show’s creator Charlotte Regan has teased whether we could see more beyond its first eight-part season – and revealed the character she would most like to see a spin-off for. Speaking exclusively with Radio Times alongside star Benjamin Coyle-Larner, Regan was asked which moment, or moments, from the series she was most looking forward for viewers to see, and they centred primarily around one character – Lindsay Duncan’s Ollie. The matriarch of the show’s central crime family, mother to its head Dylan, and grandmother to the show’s lead character Emma, Ollie is a formidable force, and one Regan is excited for fans to meet. “I think I always look forward to people seeing Ollie’s moments, and seeing Lindsay as Ollie,” she said. “It feels different to other things I’ve seen her in. Even the first day I saw her on set, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a proper transformation.’ So, I think I get excited for people to meet Ollie.” “I would love a …

Zelenskyy pitches new joint security system to European allies

Zelenskyy pitches new joint security system to European allies

Published by Sam Flores

Ukraine to hold talks with the European partners this week focused on creating a joint defence system, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced before visiting Berlin on Tuesday. “I am confident: either Ukraine becomes an integral part of Europe’s security system, or some in Europe risk becoming part of the ‘Russian world,’” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s president reiterated that Kyiv stands ready to “support those who support us”. “Our Ukrainian security experience and our military expertise are now the most sought-after products for dozens of countries worldwide,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Kyiv’s recently signed defence agreements with the Middle East. Ukraine has already signed 10-year agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Kyiv is also in talks with Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, Syria while countries in Asia and Africa “are interested in Ukraine’s experience as well.” “Ukraine is a global producer of strength and security – that is already the case, and it will remain so,” Zelenskyy said, announcing his talks with the European partners this week, following his tour in the Middle East. A Ukrainian drone …

Massive solar plant the size of 500 football pitches sparks fury – ‘it’s a carbuncle’ | UK | News

Massive solar plant the size of 500 football pitches sparks fury – ‘it’s a carbuncle’ | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Cleve Hill Solar Park is the biggest solar power station in the UK (Image: Getty) Rattled residents living near the UK’s biggest solar power station have dubbed the enormous site a “carbuncle” on the British countryside. Aerial images of the massive Cleve Hill Solar Park near the village of Graveney, in Kent, show the gigantic complex stretching to the horizon by the banks of the River Swale. According to the Cleve Hill solar website the now operational site can provide “affordable and clean electricity” to power 102,000 homes with 550,000 solar panels. However, the power generated has been purchased in corporate agreements, with supermarket firm Tesco buying 65% and the remaining 35% going to the oil giant Shell. With a 373 megawatt (MW) capacity Cleve Hill produces less energy than the average coal power station, which see output of around 500MW. As a nationally significant infrastructure project, permission to build the solar farm was granted by the Government, not Swale Borough Council (SBC). The local authority later refused permission for the massive lithium Battery Energy …

Australia board to keep hands off pitches despite Ashes debacle

Australia board to keep hands off pitches despite Ashes debacle

Published by Sam Flores

MELBOURNE, March 23 : Australia’s cricket board will resist calls to exert greater control over the nation’s test wickets despite a pair of two-day matches during the Ashes that cost the local game millions of dollars. The first Ashes test against England at Perth Stadium and the fourth at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) were decided in two days, prompting widespread criticism of the pitches’ preparation. While the Perth wicket was rated highly by the International Cricket Council’s match referee, the MCG pitch was given an “unsatisfactory” rating for being too much in favour of the bowlers after 36 wickets fell. Test wickets are prepared independently by ground staff at the venues but after day one of the Melbourne test, Cricket Australia (CA) CEO Todd Greenberg said it would be “hard not to get more involved” in them, saying two-day matches were bad for business. On Monday, however, CA’s head of operations Peter Roach said the governing body would keep its distance, saying Australia’s vast size and different conditions made it impractical to centralise pitch …

Norway pitches itself as Europe’s energy lifeline – POLITICO

Norway pitches itself as Europe’s energy lifeline – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Norway supplies roughly a third of EU gas imports, though Arctic gas accounts for a much smaller share, around 3 percent of the bloc’s imports. Still, Norwegian leaders argue a moratorium would send the wrong signal while Europe remains dependent on external energy supplies. Norwegian officials, industry groups and unions are lobbying Brussels to drop the idea, arguing Europe will continue to need Norwegian Arctic gas as it phases out Russian supplies. | Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images Ine Eriksen Søreide, the leader of Norway’s Conservative party, said calls to stop Arctic development clash with Europe’s current energy security priorities. “It sends a very bad signal when the Commission says we need to stop oil and gas development in the Arctic, because that’s development the EU relies on,” she said. Experts say the broader Arctic energy picture is dominated by Russia, which has major plans to expand liquefied natural gas production through projects such as Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG 2. Malte Humpert, founder and senior fellow at the Arctic Institute, said climate change is …

Brussels pitches English-first approval to speed up EU trade deals  – POLITICO

Brussels pitches English-first approval to speed up EU trade deals  – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Frontloaded scrubbing Legal “scrubbing” — a time-consuming process that ensures both parties agree on the precise meaning of a text and not just the overall commitments — would be “partly frontloaded during negotiations” and take place in parallel with the Commission’s adoption of the text, as well its presentation to the Council. The streamlined procedure reflects an “urgent need to diversify our trade partners” and to reap “the benefits of our trade agreements without delay,” the Commission writes in its seven-page presentation, adding this would only be applied to trade agreements that fall under the exclusive competence of the EU.  The EU’s recent agreements with India and Indonesia would be test cases of this accelerated procedure. “It will be taken up on legal scrubbing on a fast-track basis as we discussed … and translated into 24 languages simultaneously. We do hope that we should be able to celebrate the entry into force of this agreement within calendar 2026,” Indian trade chief Piyush Goyal said after leaders sealed the EU-India trade deal last month.  Prior agreements …

Baldur’s Gate 3 star Devora Wilde pitches her Lae’zel return idea

Baldur’s Gate 3 star Devora Wilde pitches her Lae’zel return idea

Published by Daniella Wilson

Devora Wilde, who played Lae’zel in the beloved Baldur’s Gate 3, has been chatting to us about potentially revisiting her iconic Githyanki character. Wilde is the latest guest in our Arcade Hang interview series, and you can watch our BG3 chat in the player above (or over on the Radio Times Gaming YouTube channel). Of course, despite the fact that Dungeons & Dragons mainly takes place in a vaguely historical setting, it didn’t take long for talk to turn to the future. And given that Wilde is constantly told that she looks like Lae’zel (much to the actor’s chagrin), surely that puts her in good stead for the live-action BG3 adaptation that fans keep asking for? Wilde answered with a laugh, “When is that happening? Yeah, I’d love that. That would be amazing. Yeah, it would put me in good stead. I guess I’d have to have some prosthetics, but I’m fine with that.” Devora Wilde holds court with her fellow BG3 stars, Aliona Baranova and Jennifer English, at the “Rolling the Dice: The Cast …

Josh O’Connor Pitches Live-Action ‘Ratatouille’ on ‘SNL’

Josh O’Connor Pitches Live-Action ‘Ratatouille’ on ‘SNL’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Josh O’Connor cleared up rumors about him potentially starring in a live-action Ratatouille on Saturday Night Live — which is a project he claims he does not want to star in. The actor began his monologue by listing his credits, which include The Crown, Challengers and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. O’Connor explained to the audience that he has a “reputation” for being a “soft boy,” who is “just trying to live a quiet life.” However, he warned the audience that “you have to be very careful about what you say, because the press will blow everything completely out of proportion,” explaining that him sharing his admiration for the Disney-Pixar film led to false rumors that he was set to star in the project. “Like one time, I said that one of my favorite movies is Ratatouille, which is true, it’s a great film,” he continued. “But I suppose fans started pitching me as Chef Linguini for a live-action Ratatouille remake. And I’m not very online, so I didn’t know that this …