Vincent Ekow Assafuah has shared his reflections on the post-2014 election period, particularly expressing disappointment over the loss of prominent and experienced politicians from the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Figures such as Joe Ghartey, Osei Kyei Mensah, and Atta Kyea, according to Assafuah, played pivotal roles in shaping long-term projects and policies that had a […]
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KEMI Badenoch will not reveal any major policies for at least two years as she orders the Conservatives to be ready to fight an election by 2028.
The Tory leader unveiled her “three year plan” to turn the routed party around at Shadow Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that leans heavily on Sir Keir Starmer‘s own path to power.
2025 will be focussed on “rebuilding trust” with voters with apologies for what the Conservatives got wrong in Government.
Ms Badenoch has already said sorry for the party painful failings to on migration, with other such grovels said to be in the pipeline.
Next year will focus on “establishing credibility” with efforts to contrast her team with Nigel Farage as an alternative government throughout 2026.
Then the remaining years of the parliament will finally see “plans for Government” unveiled and policies set out – but not before the very end of 2027 at the earliest.
The Leader of the Opposition also urged her frontbench to embark on a major outreach programme with Donald Trump‘s Republicans and right-wing parties in Australian and Canada for tips on turning around party fortunes as quickly as possible.
One Shadow Cabinet sources described the plan as “high on aims but low on detail”, while another praised it for its “ambition”.
Other senior Tories pointed to lessons learnt from how Sir Keir Starmer and his right-hand man Morgan McSweeney dragged Labour from an historic defeat in 2019 to No10 by 2024.
A source said: “Starmer showed it can be done in a matter of years, and there is no reason we cannot do the same.”
At a presentation on Tuesday morning, Badenoch and her chief of staff Lee Rowley set the three year roadmap focusing on five key priorities designed to detoxify the party after 14 mixed years in power.
Although the PM does not have to call an election until summer 2029, senior Tories believe the PM could go to the country as early as late 2027.
One senior Tory said: “Given that the government is already hit a record low in popularity, we need to be ready to go a lot sooner than most people think.”
COPS have launched an urgent hunt for a missing 12-year-old boy who vanished overnight in freezing temperatures.
Alfie Cane went missing from Orsett, Essex, with police desperate to make sure he is ok.
The schoolboy is described as about 5ft tall, with brown hair, according to Essex Police.
He was last known to be wearing a plain black Monterex jacket, plain black Nike tracksuit bottoms, and plain Black Nike trainers.
Alfie may also be wearing glasses, said the force.
The youngster was last seen by his family at about 3pm in Gowers Lane but hasn’t been seen since.
Temperatures dipped below 0C in Essex last night as freezing conditions continued to hit the country.
Cops believe Alfie may be in the South Ockenden area and also has connections to Dagenham, Harold Wood and Tilbury.
Essex Police said in a full statement: “Can you help us find 12-year-old Alfie Cane?
“He’s gone missing from Orsett and we want to make sure he’s safe as soon as possible.
“Alfie was last seen by his family at about 3pm in Gowers Lane but hasn’t been seen since.
“He is about 5ft tall, with brown hair, and last known to be wearing a plain black Monterex jacket, plain black Nike tracksuit bottoms, and plain Black Nike trainers. He may also be wearing glasses.
“We believe he may be in the South Ockenden area and also has connections to Dagenham, Harold Wood and Tilbury.
“If you have any information that will help us locate Freddie, please contact us quoting incident 781 of Monday 6 January.”
FOUR in 10 Brits switched up their routines over the last year – with midweek roasts and cups of tea before bed helping households to break the mould.
A poll of 2,000 adults found those making changes have done so in a bid to save money (64 per cent), energy (56 per cent) and be more efficient (45 per cent).
One in three (32 per cent) have ditched their loyalty to a certain supermarket, and 30 per cent started cooking in batches for the week ahead.
A fifth (19 per cent) decided to watch less TV in the evenings, 22 per cent are going to bed earlier, with 11 per cent setting their morning alarms to an hour earlier to make the most of the day.
Whereas 10 per cent have revamped their routine by exploring different routes to work or changing the time they go to the gym.
Many Brits are also making significant changes to how they use energy in the home, as 24 per cent now limit the number of appliances in use at one time.
While 23 per cent consider what time they should do ‘high energy-consuming’ tasks.
The study was commissioned by Smart Energy GB to highlight how people who embrace more flexible home habits could save money on their bills through energy reward schemes, which can be accessed with a smart meter and reward customers for using energy at different times of the day.
Consumer finance expert Steph McGovern said: “I always want to make sure that I’m helping people make their money work harder for them, and I’m conscious of doing the same in my own life.
“It can be easy to put off admin jobs like getting a smart meter, but it’s clear that they open up lots of opportunities for people to save, like by giving them access to reward schemes.”
It also emerged from the research that two in three want to switch things up from time to time to keep life a little more exciting.
With another 69 per cent adding it’s important to change their daily activities around occasionally.
Many of these do so to help stay motivated (44 per cent) and to avoid boredom (35 per cent), but others are keen to keep things fresh with one eye on their energy efficiency (43 per cent).
As a result, 64 per cent have adapted their routines to reduce costs when carrying out tasks that consume more energy, like putting the washing machine or dishwasher on.
Of those surveyed via OnePoll, 27 per cent are aware of schemes offered by their energy provider which reward them for being more flexible with their energy usage – with 79 per cent of those who are aware saying they have taken part in one.
Nearly nine in 10 (87 per cent) people who have a smart meter and have taken part in an energy reward scheme say they’ve saved money by adjusting how and when they do many household jobs.
Victoria Bacon, director at Smart Energy GB, added: “It’s great to see millions of smart meter owners are benefiting and saving money on their bills.”
“Being able to access schemes that reward you for being more flexible with your energy usage can be especially helpful at this time of year when we’re spending a lot more on heating, hot water and lighting.
BBC BOSSES have quietly removed Ruth Jones’ comedy series with a Gavin and Stacey co-star from iPlayer.
Nearly 20 million fans of the hit sitcom tuned in to watch the final ever episode on Christmas Day.
The number has made Gavin and Stacey one of the most-watched scripted dramas of the century.
But before the series, Ruth Jones and Julia Davis both starred in Nighty Night for BBC Three.
Created by Julia, 58, the dark comedy ran for two series between 2004 and 2005.
However, the noughties classic has been axed from BBC iPlayer by bosses just as Gavin and Stacey fans crave more witty storylines from the sitcom legends.
It was previously available as a boxset on the streaming platform.
The Sun understands the move is purely down to licensing rights and not the content of the show, which is now two decades old.
It’s also not expected that the 12 episodes will return to the platform in the future.
Nighty Night saw Julia’s character Jill join a dating agency after her husband Terry was diagnosed with cancer.
While convinced he would eventually die, Terry started to get better, resulting in Jill admitting him into a hospice.
After escaping, Jill locked Terry in the spare room and began starving him, with the character left fighting for his life.
Ruth Jones played Linda – a moronic personal assistant to Jill at her hair salon.
Nighty Night received widespread praise from critics and was described as a “viciously funny” comedy.
The BBC is reopening case files on an all-star line-up of crime dramas this summer.
Here’s a refresher on the popular programmes which span six decades.
A MUM has been trapped in bed with a condition that means her skull isn’t securely attached to her spine for almost eight years.
Amy Ironside Wood, 38, first fell ill in 2017 after her daughter Willow came home from nursery with glandular fever.
The now-10-year-old recovered within a week, but Amy’s symptoms have never gone away.
The former fashion buyer, from Nottingham, said she initially felt “weak and faint”, and had to crawl to and from her little girl’s bedroom if she woke up during the night.
“I felt a level of fatigue that I could never have imagined as a healthy person,” Amy said.
“At night, I would feel like I was passing out repeatedly.
“My heart would race when I would roll over in bed as if I’d just run up a flight of stairs.
“And my legs were so weak that I felt my knees would buckle after standing for just a few minutes.”
Six months later, after several blood tests, her GP diagnosed her with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), of which glandular fever is a known trigger.
But Amy didn’t feel like that was the full story.
“I spent every waking minute researching my condition,” she said.
“I thought if I could work out what was actually happening in my body then maybe I could find a way to treat it.”
Amy tried “every diet, supplement and medication” she could before stumbling across a TED Talk by American filmmaker Jennifer Brea, who claimed she had put her ME into remission through neurosurgery.
“I cannot explain the excitement I felt when I thought that there was a cure – even if it meant going through major surgery,” she said.
“I would have done anything at that point to get my life back.”
Amy, who shares Willow with her husband, Nik, 42, sought help from a specialist in the field in Barcelona, Spain.
In 2022, they diagnosed her with craniocervical instability (CCI) – a rare medical condition where the skull is not securely attached to the spine.
It was also suspected that Amy’s spinal cord was tethered – where the spinal cord is attached to the tissue around the spinal canal, meaning it cannot move freely – which was confirmed by a specialist in New York, United States, in October 2024.
The conditions mean Amy’s energy levels fluctuate on a daily basis.
I used to be the life and soul of the party and inside I still have that energy and zest for life, but my body can’t express it without dreadful consequences
Amy Ironside Wood
There are days where she cannot get out of bed, except to use the toilet, and others where she manages one or two hours of low-level function.
“It’s very difficult for me to stand for longer than a few minutes,” she said.
“I can’t take my daughter to the park or for days out, and I can’t be in restaurants or cafes because the ambient noise worsens my symptoms a lot.”
Treatments are available, but they come at a cost.
The first is a procedure that takes stem cells from bone marrow and injects them through the throat and into the ligaments at the back of the skull.
The second is a “brutal” neurosurgery using hardware to fuse the skull and the cervical spine.
Amy said the latter would only be available to her in Spain at a cost of £80,000 or America for upwards of £200,000.
She added she must also have an operation to release her tethered spinal cord, which could cost between £17,000 and £20,000.
To help with the fees but being “uncomfortable asking for donations”, Amy launched her own clothing brand, Not Dead Apparel, in 2023.
The business sells jumpers, T-shirts, caps and bags embroidered with slogans showing her “very dry sense of humour”.
This includes – ‘What fresh hell is this’, ‘Tired Girl’s Club’, ‘Live, Laugh, Lie Down’, and ‘Wish you weren’t here’.
“I do all of the design, admin and customer service aspects and then I outsource the embroidery, since my body just isn’t in a place to do anything physical right now,” Amy said.
“I’d say humour has been the most important tool to get me through all of this and the designs often resonate with people going through all kinds of struggles.”
While it was only her family and friends who purchased her wares at first, the business boomed in March 2024 after an influencer shared one of her hats on Instagram.
“The response has been wonderful. It’s been a joyous reminder of the kindness of strangers,” she added.
Amy recently set up an online store where all of the profits from her sales go directly towards her medical treatment, as well as any funds she raises through her GoFundMe page, which has more than £8,000 in donations so far.
Looking ahead, she is hoping to get her first surgery, the tethered spinal cord release, under way this year.
“There are so many hard pills to swallow with this illness, but I think for me its the social isolation,” Amy said.
“I used to be the life and soul of the party and inside I still have that energy and zest for life, but my body can’t express it without dreadful consequences.
“I’ve been unwell for almost eight years now so people barely remember the true me – I feel like I grieve for her most days.
“I really don’t want to get to the 10-year mark.
“To have your life put on hold for a decade is a tough thing to accept.”
MYALGIC encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS, is a long-term condition.
The four most common symptoms are:
But some people also experience pain, flu-like symptoms like a temperature and aching joints or muscles, and headaches.
There is no specific test for ME, so it is diagnosed based on symptoms and ruling out other conditions.
It also has no single cause. Some people develop ME following an infection, like glandular fever, while others can identify a period of stress leading up to the start of their illness.
Treatment usually involves energy management, cognitive behavioural therapy, and medicine to control certain symptoms.
Source: NHS
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