counter stats Viral X – Page 897 – open Dazem

Viral X

Ed Miliband accused of spearheading a ‘green transition built on slavery’

ED Miliband was last night accused of spearheading a “green transition built on slavery”.

The bungling Energy Secretary sparked fury across his party after he blocked efforts to ensure new solar panels for schools and hospitals aren’t produced using Chinese forced labour.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, leaving 10 Downing Street.
Getty
Ed Miliband was accused of spearheading a ‘green transition built on slavery’[/caption]

More than six Labour MPs have publicly announced they will support a vote today to ban state-owned GB Energy from spending millions of pounds of taxpayer cash on cheap supply chains linked to human rights abuses in XinJiang.

But dozens more have told whips they are livid ministers won’t abandon panels where there is “credible evidence” slavery was involved in production.

A House of Lords amendment to abandon tainted green materials is also being backed by the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, trade union Unison and human rights groups.

Last night the Department for Net Zero locked into negotiations with potential rebel MPs on a compromise.

But just days before the ten-year anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act, No10 doubled down on using cheap Chinese goods to accelerate eco-energy.

A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said: “We want to combat human rights abuses like forced labour across the whole energy industry.

“That will be more effective than applying measures on a company-by-company basis.”

Hitting back, senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith told The Sun: “I believe no one on the back benches in Parliament and particularly in the Labour Party will knowingly vote in favour of the UK funding slavery.

“Yet when the Great British Energy bill returns to the Commons, they will be told by the government to do just that and vote down an anti-slave amendment and open the UK to slave-made Net Zero solar arrays and other goods, particularly from China.”

Read More »

Footballers are great role models… but they need to be able to go partying, like I did, says Jack Wilshere

HAVING been hailed as the new Paul Gascoigne after making his senior England debut at 18, Jack Wilshere got a reputation for a party lifestyle.

The former Arsenal midfielder’s career, including a stunning double strike during the Three Lions’ European Championship qualifying match against Slovenia in 2015, was then hampered by a catalogue of injuries.

Family portrait of a man, woman, and young girl sitting on a couch.
Eleven Miles.
Former footie ace Jack Wilshere with daughter Siena and wife Andriani last year[/caption]
Family photo of Jack Wilshere with his wife and four children at an outdoor restaurant.
Instagram
Family man Jack with Andriani and the kids[/caption]
Jack Wilshere pointing to the "Every Minute Matters Relay" logo on his red t-shirt.
Jack is helping to get fans learning lifesaving CPR skills

But now aged 33 and a coach — currently with Championship side Norwich City, and previously Arsenal under-18s — he understands the pressures on young football stars.

Like former Three Lions manager Sir Gareth Southgate, he knows how much these kids need role models.

The dad of four will run next month’s London Marathon in aid of the British Heart Foundation and is backing a campaign inspiring the nation to learn lifesaving cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

While at Arsenal, Jack helped coach now 18-year-old wonderkids Myles Lewis-Skelly — who last week scored on his full England debut in our World Cup qualifier win against Albania — and Ethan Nwaneri, now with the Three Lions under-21s.

But he also believes players need to be allowed to let their hair down when not on club time.

He made headlines in 2010 when he was arrested 18 days after making his full England debut in a friendly against Hungary at Wembley, coming on as a late substitute for Steven Gerrard.

He was given a police caution following the late-night brawl — where it turned out he had played peacemaker.

But Jack tells The Sun: “I always thought I was sensible enough to know the right times to go out and when not to — and it’s important that the players have some downtime.

“Of course, the world has changed a little bit and there’s so many things young people, young players can do, but downtime is important, as are the people around you.”

After England crashed out of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil in the group stage, Jack was pictured with a cigarette as he partied in a Las Vegas pool with goalkeeper Joe Hart.

But that was in downtime between duties with England and Arsenal.

Plenty of footballers, such as England’s Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish, have been haunted by shots of them partying.

But Jack says: “I don’t ever really look back and think, ‘I should not have done that’.”

During his career he won FA Cups with Arsenal in 2014 and 2015, 34 England caps including six man-of-the-match awards, and scored two Premier League goals of the season.

After ten years at Arsenal, until 2018, he was at West Ham for two years before spells at Bournemouth and Danish side Aarhus. But injuries — particularly ankle but also knee and back — forced him to retire in 2022 aged 30.

Goals of the season

He then became head coach of Arsenal under-18s before leaving last October to become a first-team coach at Norwich.

He has taken advice from former England pals Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, who all moved into football management.

Jack says of coaching: “It’s a comp-letely different skill set. You have to learn how to lead people.

“You have to learn how to inspire people and keep them inspired and convince them to buy into something.”

Gareth Southgate spoke last week about how such inspiration needs to be passed on to young men, throughout society, to stop them falling under the spell of toxic online influencers such as misogynist Andrew Tate.

Jack has son Archie, 13, and 11-year-old daughter Delilah by former girlfriend Lauren Neal, as well as daughter Siena, seven, and six-year-old son Jack by his now wife Andriani Michael.

He says: “We have to be careful about the messages we expose them to, which I try to do, and try and limit their access to social media, and try to give them opportunities to have role models.

Jack Wilshere, Arsenal soccer player, dribbling the ball.
PA:Empics Sport
Jack, pictured in 2010, was a young talent at Premier League side Arsenal[/caption]
Jack Wilshere partying at a Las Vegas pool party.
Splash News
Jack parties in Las Vegas back in 2013[/caption]

“Archie’s 13. As he gets older, things might change. But at the moment his role models are footballers, and he wants to be a footballer, and he’s driven to do that.”

Jack — who has been married to Andriani, daughter of his barber, for almost eight years — believes that footballers are great role models for young men.

His sons now worship the latest England sensations.

He says: “I think about my son, and another son who’s five — they have role models, they love Jude Bellingham, they love Bukayo Saka.

“When I grew up, I had David Beckham, I had Joe Cole, I had Frank Lampard.”

Meanwhile, football is playing a role in saving lives by asking fans to learn CPR — the emergency procedure of chest presses and rescue breaths to restore breathing and circulation after the heart stops.

Sky Bet and the English Football League’s Every Minute Matters cam-paign aim to get 270,000 football fans to learn this by next month — and 235,000 already have. The British Heart Foundation has its own 15-minute online course, RevivR.

Jack learned CPR because his eldest child Archie has epilepsy, which causes seizures.

Jack reveals: “The first time it happens you don’t know what’s going on, what it is. It was quite scary. So we wanted to learn CPR as a family.”

I don’t ever really look back and think, ‘I should not have done that’.

Jack Grealish

British Heart Foundation ambass-ador Jack is now backing the Sky Bet EFL Every Minute Matters Relay — a 4,000km “jaunt” across the country starting today in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and Plymouth, and ending four weeks later in London on Easter Monday.

Fans of all 72 clubs in the English Football League will run, walk and cycle legs of various lengths.

Fan favourites “Big Sam” Allardyce, Troy Deeney and Dion Dublin are also taking part.

Jack, though, is also training for the London Marathon on April 27 — and the hard yards have been more difficult than he reckoned. He admits: “It’s tough. I never thought that I’d have to actually run that far.”

Waiting for him at the finishing line will be daughter Siena, whose potentially fatal heart condition insp-ired Jack to help the British Heart Foundation.

In February last year, Siena under-went an operation to fix a hole in her heart. Jack was so stressed by the fear of losing her that he lost almost a stone in weight.

He adds: “People said to me, ‘Why are you doing the marathon? You’re crazy’. And, yes, it will be hard, it will be tough, there will be moments where I probably will doubt if I’ll get across the finish line.

“But I will get across the finish line and Siena will be there waiting for me. That’s thanks to the British Heart Foundation, thanks to the doctors, and that’s something I’ll always be in debt for, grateful for.”

Siena is now fit and well, getting back to a normal life, although Jack says: “We’re a little bit more careful with her, and probably give her a little bit more TLC than the others.”

Daughter’s heart op

The marathon will see him pitted against former England teammate John Terry, and Jack says with a laugh: “If I was you, I’d put your money on him.”

Chelsea centre-half John was the Three Lions captain when Jack broke into the side as a teenager. The hardman skipper was an inspirational leader who helped guide the young player on and off the pitch.

Jack says: “It was something I’d never experienced before. He talked through the whole game — my positioning, how to do this, how to do that. He taught me a lot and showed me what a real leader was.”

Jack now hopes to become a manager but is happy to take his time and learn. The success of Southgate taking England to two European Championship finals in a row, in 2021 and 2024, inspires him — like other English managers, such as Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe and Graham Potter at West Ham.

But he has no beef with the Football Association having given the England manager’s job to German Thomas Tuchel, ex-boss of Chelsea.

Jack says: “I love it, it’s a big step from the FA. Gareth’s done a fant-astic job, and as a young English coach to have someone like Gareth at the top of the tree gave us belief.

“But with the players we’ve got now, it’s so important we maximise that, and we’ve got the best guy to do that. Thomas is a proven winner.”

  • Sky Bet and the EFL have joined forces in support of the British Heart Foundation to host the Sky Bet EFL Every Minute Matters Relay. To learn CPR in just 15 minutes with the BHF’s free, online tool, search ‘RevivR’.

Read More »

Emma Raducanu’s match paused as distraught opponent calls for physio after being ‘humiliated’ by Brit at Miami Open

EMMA RADUCANU’S match was paused after distressed close pal Amanda Anisimova called the physio to her bench at the Miami Open.

Raducanu looked a class above Anisimova as she stormed to a 6-1, 6-3 win, dropping just nine points in the opener on the Butch Buchholz court.

Emma Raducanu celebrating during a tennis match.
Emma Raducanu’s last-16 tie was paused after Amanda Anisimova called over her pyshio
Emma Raducanu of Great Britain reacts during a tennis match.
Getty
Raducanu looked a class above Anisimova as she stormed to a 6-1, 6-3 win to advance to her first WTA 1000 quarter-final[/caption]

After the Brit moved 5-1 ahead in just over 15 minutes, Sky Sports commentator Annabel Croft pointed out the American’s defeated body language.

Croft said: “She is all over the place. That sigh says it all. Fed up out here. Not enjoying this. She’s being humiliated.”

Raducanu‘s momentum was slightly disrupted in between sets when Anisimova called the physio to her bench.

It later turned into a medical time-out as the physio took time to ease the discomfort in her right arm in their last-16 clash.

Anisimova, 23, received treatment on her right wrist, which was a known injury ahead of the match, after she took a time-out for blisters in her victory against Mirra Andreeva on Sunday.

During the break in play, Croft added: “She was manipulating the wrist as well, which is actually quite painful.

“She’s giving it a good working over, stretching out all those tendons and ligaments.

“I have to say I think she looked completely all over the place.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

“She just had no clue how to play Raducanu in that first set, and she sort of almost lost interest in it, hadn’t she?

“She is totally rattled emotionally.

“She was getting irritated, and also the way her body language was, she was rushing through service games like she wasn’t ready or prepared to think about it or compose herself before the point.”

Anisimova continued the match, but Raducanu wasted no time in breaking her serve again as she closed in on a ruthless win.

Raducanu started her campaign by easing past Japan’s Sakaya Ishii before an impressive second-round win against eighth seed Emma Navarro.

The Brit’s round-of-32 match against McCartney Kessler ended in a walkover, after the American was forced to retire with a back problem.

It was the first time she has won four matches in a row at one event since her 2021 US Open title.

The 22-year-old’s maiden WTA 1000 quarter-final opponent will be against either No4 seed Jessica Pegula or Marta Kostyuk.

Raducanu is up to 48th in the live rankings but her level is at least 20 spots higher. 

Read More »