Brexit truce as pro-EU Lib Dems focus on long game
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Brexit truce as pro-EU Lib Dems focus on long game Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo Once the party of “stop Brexit”, the Liberal Democrats toned down their zeal for the European Union ahead of this year’s general election. The party swelled its ranks to 72 MPs – its most ever – without drawing much attention to its original policy of rejoining the EU. But as Lib Dems gather for their autumn conference this weekend, will the B-word will be back on their lips?The EU roadmap “It’s no secret that a lot of the grassroots would have preferred the party leadership to take a slightly stronger line before the election on rejoining the EU,” says Rob Harrison, the chairman of the Liberal Democrat European Group. Now the general election is behind us, Harrison says, “I do think the party leadership could be bolder on Europe”. To the frustration of some Lib Dem Europhiles, a gradualist approach to rebuilding ties with the EU is favoured by party leader Sir Ed Davey. His 2024 election campaigning focused on a few core issues, above all social care, and given the dramatic increase in Lib Dem MPs, few would dare to say it hasn’t worked. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 In cautious wording, the general election manifesto, external laid out “essential steps on the road to EU membership, which remains our longer-term objective”. The party’s four-stage roadmap includes seeking to join EU programmes and eventually, the single market, which allows the free movement of goods, services and people. This weekend, there was another staging post on this journey. At the conference in Brighton, party activists voted to approve a policy proposal to give young people better access to the EU. Delegates unanimously passed a motion calling for the government to open negotiations for a youth mobility scheme for under-35s, abolish visa fees and join the Erasmus Plus student scheme.Janey Little of Young Liberals campaigns for a Lib Dem candidate during the general election campaign in 2024 Before the conference, the BBC spoke to six Lib Dem activists and two MPs – and most of them seemed satisfied with the party’s direction of travel on Europe. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s “Brexit has happened, and that’s unfortunate,” says Janey Little, chairwoman of the Young Liberals. “But we will always be at the front of the agenda of pushing for a closer relationship with Europe and rebuilding those ties.” Another Young Liberal, Ulysse Abbate, says the party should be focusing on “easy wins”, such as a youth mobility scheme between the UK and the EU. There is some discontent though. Mark Johnston is an EU policy specialist and member of the committee that prepared the party’s manifesto. He says that “all parties have been silent on Brexit in the past few years” and there were no signs the Lib Dems would change tack. “We shouldn’t be tip-toeing around this issue,” Johnston says. “We should be making it a key part of our offer in every election going forward through this cycle to distinguish ourselves from Labour.” Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly said he would not seek to rejoin the EU and has instead promised to “make Brexit work”. Johnston says: “We’ve got to differentiate ourselves from Labour in the voter’s mind, and not just be running with a ‘we’re not the Tories’ message, because the value of that will fade very quickly.”Listening to voters Other Lib Dem activists do see differences with Labour, but aren’t so sure voters care that much about Brexit. During the general election campaign, “it wasn’t really in the public’s mind”, says David Chalmers, a veteran pro-EU Lib Dem. “They were really concerned about the cost of living, the NHS and sewage. If you start talking about rejoining Europe, you’re not actually listening to people.” Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem MP for North Shropshire, says she has been listening to lots of people in her constituency, which voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum. She says locally, A&E waiting times, potholes and energy costs this winter were the issues that came up on the doorstep most frequently. “I spoke personally to probably more than 1,000 people during the course of the election campaign,” Morgan says. “I talked about Europe maybe a handful of times.” Josh Babarinde – the new MP for Eastbourne – says there was no mass clamour to immediately rejoin the EU in mail from his constituents. But if voters want that eventually, “our stance on Brexit was there in black and white”, he says. Novotel Hotel Booking “I don’t think anyone will be in any doubt where Liberal Democrat sympathies lie when it comes to Brexit.” What is in doubt, though, is the timeframe the party has in mind for rejoining the EU. Even the chairman of the Liberal Democrat European Group – which he describes as “the fan group for the EU” – is managing his expectations. “We’re talking about the 2034 Parliament,” Harrison says. “That is when we might feasibly get a rejoin application in.” Sir Ed has gone no way near such specifics. Rebuilding trust with European partners takes time, he often says. As long as he’s in charge and the Lib Dems keep performing well in elections, the Europhile wing of the party will have to play the long game. For now, as the Lib Dems celebrate a record result in the general election, the Brexit truce is holding. 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Schools urged to talk about upskirting and sextortion
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Schools urged to talk about upskirting and sextortion Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo Schools are to be encouraged to teach young people about topics like upskirting, downblousing, cyberflashing and sextortion, MLAs have heard. An official from the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) told a Stormont committee that teachers were “crying out” for relationships and sex education (RSE) teaching materials. Roisin Radcliffe from CCEA told assembly members that there were “units coming out on upskirting, downblousing, cyberflashing and sextortion”. CCEA provides online resources and lessons for schools on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 “We’re not telling everybody ‘go out and have sex,’ that is not the case,” she said. “I think everybody thinks they’re talking about sex all the time but most of the young people we meet are interested in the relationships and how to talk to someone,” she said. “That’s how basic it is. “They don’t know how to talk to each other.” Ms Radcliffe told MLAs about other units: “We’ve perimenopause, menopause, masculinity and the influence of positive role models.” Police in Northern Ireland can now charge people with upskirting, downblousing and cyberflashing after changes to the law. MLAs on Stormont’s Education Committee have started an inquiry into the provision of relationship and sex education in schools in Northern Ireland. They heard from a number of witnesses about RSE on Wednesday. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s CCEA recently removed guidance to primary schools that children could become aware that they were transgender “between the ages of three and five” from their RSE Hub. Teachers ‘crying out’ for sex education resources Ms Radcliffe told MLAs that teachers were “crying out” for tailored support to teach RSE. She said that CCEA was also working with Cinemagic to provide schools with short films on the topics of consent and period dignity. But the Sinn Féin MLA, Cathy Mason, questioned whether support and training for teachers would accompany the resources. “There’s a difference in a teacher being given the resource and actually having the confidence to deliver that resource,” she said. MLAs also heard that religious beliefs should not affect “scientifically accurate information” taught to pupils in RSE. They were, though, told that changes to RSE to include teaching pupils about abortion provoked “nervousness” and “concern” among some teachers. Post-primary schools in Northern Ireland are now required to teach pupils about access to abortion and prevention of early pregnancy in RSE. The chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), Alyson Kilpatrick, was also among those questioned by MLAs. She was asked a question by DUP MLA Cheryl Brownlee about how different religious beliefs were acknowledged within RSE. “The scientifically accurate information that’s given should not differ depending on the religious belief,” Ms Kilpatrick replied. “What may differ is their attitude to, for example, abortion, attitude to prevention of early pregnancy on faith grounds. “But it shouldn’t affect the scientifically accurate information that’s given to children. “That’s going to be the same whether it’s a Muslim family, a Christian family, a Jewish family.” Previous research from the NIHRC suggested that some schools in Northern Ireland were teaching pupils that homosexuality was wrong. Ms Kilpatrick said that research had also found there was “no consistency” across schools in the teaching of RSE. Ms Brownlee’s DUP colleague David Brooks MLA, however, said RSE could veer “into elements of morality and faith that are usually set in the home”. The UUP MLA, Robbie Butler, said that some “young people have suffered horrendously” because RSE had not been handled well in some schools. ‘Shoehorned into a school curriculum’ Principal of Lisneal College in Londonderry, Michael Allen said feedback from teachers and some young people shows that relationship and sex education (RSE) teaching materials does not meet their needs. Mr Allen said Stormont’s support and advice on RSE to schools “is not where it should be”. “There is a feeling amongst educators that where society needs to address something, it is shoe-horned into a school curriculum,” he said. “Often many components of RSE policy comes down to ethical and moral debate and dilemma, and that should not just be shoehorned into schools to deal with without the proper support and without the proper staff training. “We shouldn’t really be seen as the easy vehicle to perhaps address many of the issues – we seem to have forgotten that parents want to play a large role in the education of their children around these issues and that should not be bypassed.” Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8YYeb4PMk Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol
Ex-UKIP leader and ‘father of Brexit’ dies
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Ex-UKIP leader and ‘father of Brexit’ dies Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo A former leader of the UK Independence Party who was also the party’s first MEP in the East of England has died aged 90. Jeffrey Titford was described by a former colleague as “one of the fathers of Brexit”. Previously an undertaker from Essex, Mr Titford began his political career as a Conservative councillor in Clacton before joining the Referendum Party, which later merged with UKIP, external. In 1999, he was one of the first UKIP politicians to be elected to the European Parliament in Strasbourg/Brussels. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 Mr Titford was a passionate Euro-sceptic who devoted his retirement to campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union. “If I can influence anybody into believing, as I do, that the EU is wrong for Britain, I shall have achieved my objective,” he told the The Newz in 2008. That objective was realised in 2016 as the UK voted to leave the EU in a referendum, officially leaving in 2020 after more than three years of political wrangling with the EU and within the UK Parliament. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s He was one of the first to join James Goldsmith’s Referendum Party and stood in Harwich in the 1997 general election where he came fourth polling 9% of the vote when the seat was won by Labour’s Ivan Henderson. Two years later, when proportional representation was used for the first time in European Parliament elections in the UK, he stood as a UKIP candidate and became one of eight MEPs representing the new East of England constituency, which included Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. “The polls have said that seven out of 10 people don’t want to have anything to do with the Euro [currency] and nearly 50% want to withdraw from the European Union,” he said at the time. “All it needed was a party to stand up for those two principles.” He led the party for almost three years in 2000 and again, briefly, as acting leader in 2010 before Nigel Farage took over in the run-up to the decisive 2016 Brexit poll. He was highly respected within the party for his calm manner and ability to bring people together and resolve arguments – no mean feat for a party which was regularly beset by infighting. His former colleague and close friend Stuart Gulleford described Mr Titford as “a visionary and a democrat, who did not believe that EU membership provided a viable future for Britain as an independent, self-governing nation”. “He was one of the fathers of Brexit,” he said. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8YYeb4PMk Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol
‘These are my people’ – Comic Con attracts thousands
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel ‘These are my people’ – Comic Con attracts thousands Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo For some, Comic Con Northern Ireland is one of the highlights of the year. For others, it’s just one stop in a tour of fantasy conventions and dressing up as a fictional character that takes up a lot of time, money and creative flair. Thousands have descended on the Eikon Exhibition Centre just outside Lisburn for this year’s event, a convention celebrating comic books and popular art forms like fantasy movies and video games. One attendee started work on his costume 18 months ago, and, careful to keep the costs involved secret from his partner who was standing next to him, whispered that he’d spent £1,200 to depict a very realistic Mandalorian. “It’s just great to get together with other like-minded people,” he said. “I’m not the only one here geared up in costume.” Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 Along with vikings, Star Wars’ characters, and fighters from the prominent video game, Halo, the expense involved in having the best costume isn’t lost on these fans. Jim, who goes by the name the Belfast predator cosplay experience, sighs when asked how much he had spent on depicting the demon god, Akira. “Between £600 and £700,” he said. His outfit is complete with a voice changer strapped to his chest. But he added that the actual Akira, the protagonist of an anime series called Devilman, didn’t have a Belfast accent. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s ‘I’ve finally found my tribe’ A young woman who spent months on her costume, inspired by the staff on a ride at Disney World in Florida, said: “The best thing about Comic Con is definitely the people. “They are all so kind, and so talented. “These are my people, I’ve finally found my tribe as my mum would say.” Ocean, who was dressed as a witch, said: “It’s so nice to see everyone’s costumes and being able to recognise the characters.” Her friends, one of whom is in wheelchair sporting a rainbow tutu, and the other who’s in a waistcoat and top hat with blood all over her face, agree. “I think being a bit of a weirdo in normal life, it’s kind of nice to be somewhere where everyone is a little bit nerdy,” she said. ‘Expensive’ Celebrity selfies and autographs are one of the big draws at any Comic Con. Queues of people waiting to see the likes of Andy Serkis, Billie Piper and Peggy, the dog from Dogpool, stretch almost the length of the exhibition hall. But several attendees said it was a shame that it costs so much to get an autograph and a photo, which can come to a combined total of £150 depending on the celebrity. Gillian, who brought a group of young people, said: “It’s very expensive to have fun here, and the price of meeting celebrities goes up after lunch.” Luke, who dressed as a character called Adam from Hazbin Hotel, thinks its fair to be charged for an autograph, but thinks that a separate charge for a selfie is unfair. “At other conventions you pay for an autograph and just ask for a photo as well but here you’ve to pay for both,” he said A spokesperson for the organisers said “with the cost involved in bringing these artists to the UK, all autograph, photo and selfie opportunities are always chargeable at these events.” Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8YYeb4PMk Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol
Monsieur Brexit buys Macron time, but French deadlock remains
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Monsieur Brexit buys Macron time, but French deadlock remains Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo Michel Barnier is not the solution to Emmanuel Macron’s self-inflicted travails, because there is no solution to the presidential fix. Numbers are numbers, and in the current state of parliament the politician does not exist who can command a guaranteed majority. What the former Mr Brexit might be able to do is buy the president a little time. If by Christmas, Mr Barnier still happens to be in office – that will be regarded as a job pretty well done. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 The last weeks of Macronian dithering have been painful to follow. Over and again his aides have chucked out trial balloons to an avid press corps – only to have each potential prime minister disavowed the following day. Over and again we have been told that an appointment is imminent – only for the candidate to develop sudden handicaps that made them unsuitable for the post. In each case, President Macron had to be sure that the potential nominee would fulfil two criteria. First, that he or she would not unravel the president’s legacy – notably the pension reforms introduced so painfully two years ago. And second, the person had to be – in the jargon – “non-censurable.” In other words, they had to be able to avoid automatic rejection – and ejection – by the oppositions in the Assembly. Michel Barnier, 73, a calm, unrufflable former minister with proven negotiating skills, might finally fit the bill. Being on the centre right, he approves of the pension reform. Indeed when he ran in 2021 for the conservative nomination for the presidency – he lost out to Valérie Pécresse – he proposed pushing the retirement age back even further, to 65. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s It just happens that Marine Le Pen – whose populist National Rally (RN) is one of the three roughly equivalent blocs in the Assembly – has said she will not automatically vote against a Barnier government. If she did, then Barnier would automatically fall because the left will always vote against him. Marine Le Pen does not unconditionally loathe Michael Barnier the way she loathed another centre-right potential PM, Xavier Bertrand. And at the 2021 primaries, Mr Barnier said some quite tough things about immigration, even suggesting France could try to bypass the European courts of justice and human rights. That stands him in good stead too. So National Rally is hinting now that it will wait before bringing Barnier down. If his programme includes positive measures on immigration, the cost of living and – crucially for her – proportional representation, then, the party’s leaders say they might give him a stay of execution. Some consolation. For the fact remains that for all his courtesy, patience and experience Mr Barnier will from day one be governing on borrowed time. The left-wing alliance the New Popular Front – which came out top in July’s election – is furious at the choice of prime minister. As far as they are concerned, the left won the vote, and it was therefore President Macron’s constitutional duty to appoint a prime minister from the left-wing camp. That he has thwarted their plans will for many be a legitimate reason for street protest. Everything depends now on Mr Barnier’s choice of ministers, and how far he chooses to exert his autonomy from the president.In theory he has freedom to be his own man. Emmanuel Macron has admitted he lost the election, and under the French constitution it is the government, under the prime minister, that sets and carries out policy. But by temperament, and political inclination, Michel Barnier is unlikely to depart very far from the Macron agenda. They are both men of the centre, with right-wing leanings on the economic front. They are also both big Europeans, seeing the EU as the necessary outlet for French greatness. And they believe, in theory at least, that deficits have to be brought down, not least because that is what the EU is demanding. He is, in other words, a very establishment figure, of the type that both left and populist right believe France had voted in July to get rid of. So if it turns out that Barnierism is just Macronism by other means – and the budget debate next month will be the first crucial test – then all the new prime minister’s vaunted negotiating skills will be of little avail against the backlash in a hostile new Assembly. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8YYeb4PMk Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol
Michel Barnier’s journey from Mr Brexit to French PM
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Michel Barnier’s journey from Mr Brexit to French PM Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo Michel Barnier can count more than 50 years in politics, but France’s new prime minister is best known even in his native France as the EU’s chief negotiator in the Brexit years. His task was to represent the European Union during talks with the UK government and he was widely praised for his attention to detail and ability to reach consensus. Born in the mountainous Savoie region in south-east France in 1951, Mr Barnier – a keen skier and hiker – has been a committed, patriotic conservative in the tradition of French leader Charles de Gaulle since he was a teenager. He joined the right-wing Union for the Defence of the Republic (UDR) party when he was a teenager. To this day, he still belongs to the UDR’s successor, the Republicans (LR). Mr Barnier did not attend the elite French École Nationale d’Administration, from which many of the country’s leaders hail – but did make history when, aged 27, he became the youngest MP ever elected. He married Isabelle Altmayer, a lawyer, in 1982. The couple have three grown children and she was in the courtyard of the prime minister’s residence at Hôtel Matignon when he took office. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 In 1992 Mr Barnier took great pride in bringing the Winter Olympics to the Savoie – a feat that he said had taught him about working on big projects involving many people, while always keeping an eye on the prize. He entered politics the following year and served as a cabinet minister in various French governments for several years. In 2010, he became the EU’s internal market commissioner – one of the most coveted jobs in the European Commission. Still, Mr Barnier aimed higher. In 2014 he mounted an unsuccessful attempt to become president of the European Commission, eventually losing out to Jean-Claude Juncker. In July 2016, a month after the UK voted to leave the EU, Mr Juncker – who said he wanted an “experienced politician for this difficult job” – picked Mr Barnier to negotiate the Brexit deal. His nomination was a surprise for some of Mr Barnier’s fellow Frenchmen, who had never held him in particularly high esteem. Only a few years earlier, a journalist from French paper Libération had famously said that Mr Barnier – by then a veteran politician – would always just be a “nice, white-teethed skier, ever so intellectually limited”. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s On the EU side, however, Mr Barnier was well known for being diligent and methodical. Crucially, he was also seen as cool-headed – a valuable trait during the first febrile months after the Brexit referendum. Throughout the gruelling Brexit process he had to work with an ever-changing cast of British negotiators and prime ministers, but Mr Barnier remained largely unflappable, facing what he repeatedly called a “costly and painful divorce”. Although he was most often pictured sitting around negotiating tables in Brussels or London, much of the work to disentangle the UK from the EU was done by Mr Barnier’s staff. Behind the scenes, his chief task was to travel around Europe and build consensus among the 27 member states to ensure the EU maintained a united front. In the process, he became a familiar sight on TV screens on both sides of the Channel and beyond – tall, sleek and debonaire, generally flanked by an EU flag and typically inscrutable. There was little emotion in his voice when, seamlessly switching from English to French, he announced on 24 December 2020 that the EU and the UK had reached a post-Brexit trade deal. Mr Barnier – ever fond of hiking metaphors – had once likened Brexit to climbing a mountain. Soon after that peak was conquered, he began his ascent to the next one. In the summer of 2021, he launched a bid to be conservative candidate in the 2022 French presidential election, sparing no criticism of President Emmanuel Macron, who he said had ruled France in an “arrogant” manner. Away from Brussels, Mr Barnier began to shed his image of a consummate EU technocrat. He called for staunch anti-immigration policies to be implemented in France and across the EU, and said France should be able to ignore certain rulings of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Some observers were surprised, and interpreted this as populist move. Others felt Mr Barnier was merely heeding the lessons of Brexit and keeping an eye on the mood of voters. But his bid to be the Republicans’ presidential candidate was unsuccessful, and for the past three years Mr Barnier has made little noise, as France’s political landscape has become increasingly polarised. His name had come up occasionally as a potential candidate for prime minister after the July 2024 snap election that left France deadlocked. But it was not until 60 days after the vote that he was named PM by President Macron. Although Mr Barnier is still primarily known as Monsieur Brexit, President Macron is likely to have chosen him because they are both from the pro-European establishment and share the same right-wing leanings on the economic front. His Republican background puts him at odds with left-wing parties, but it does mean that centrist, right-wing and populist forces could help him survive the first hurdle of his premiership – a likely vote of confidence. David Davis, who worked closely with Mr Barnier for several years as the UK’s Brexit Secretary, told the BBC he was “a really solid Frenchman” who was “well-grounded in the real France”. In his first address as prime minister, Mr Barnier acknowledged the challenges of the task ahead and vowed to tell the truth “even if it is hard to hear”. “There is a need for respect, appeasement and unity,” he said, in a nod to the fraught political landscape he
One Week Left to Apply To MCM Scholarship for Aspiring Creatives
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel One Week Left to Apply To MCM Scholarship for Aspiring Creatives Banzai Japan Music Video Thursday September 5, London: This August, ReedPop announced their new MCM Scholarship ahead of the upcoming MCM Comic Con x EGX in October, which aims to help aspiring writers, comic book artists, game developers, voice actors and more, take that first leap into their future creative careers. Book Novotel Hotel As of today, there is one week remaining for any potential future creatives to apply for this opportunity, with applications closing Thursday September 12. Those interested can apply HERE. The winner of the MCM Scholarship will be granted free entry for all three days of MCM Comic Con x EGX, a three night stay at a hotel near ExCeL London and a cash prize of £500. The winner will also receive a bespoke itinerary based on their career goals, but will also be free to explore the show as they please. Banzai Japan Music Video At the convention, the winner will have the chance to learn from leaders in their desired creative field through thought-provoking panels, engaging workshops, and networking with like-minded people. The winner will even appear on-stage in a panel with industry experts to discuss their own creative journey through the scholarship. ReedPop makes supporting future talent a priority, through the MCM Creator Clinic and EGX Career Fair, which allow attendees to get face to face with potential employers and have their portfolios reviewed by seasoned professionals in everything from game development to voice acting. Applications for the MCM Scholarship are closing soon, so any student or young person with a desire to kick start their career in gaming, comics, literature or acting should apply now. Winners will be chosen based on the strength of their application and the passion displayed for their chosen field. MCM Comic Con is Europe’s largest geek and pop-culture event, while EGX is the UK’s leading video game convention. MCM Comic Con London and EGX will take place at ExCeL London from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 October, marking the first time both events are under one roof. Learn more about the MCM Scholarship and apply HERE. Book Novotel Hotel Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol
Work begins on Irish Sea post-Brexit border post
Buy Now An error occurred. Buy Now An error occurred. Book Novotel Hotel Work begins on Irish Sea post-Brexit border post Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPElmgQJGBo Construction work has finally started on a border control post in north Wales which will carry out post-Brexit checks on goods from the Republic of Ireland. The facility at Holyhead should be operational sometime in 2025, four years after the UK left the EU. When the UK left in 2021, goods from Great Britain going to the EU were immediately subject to customs and regulatory processes. But the UK government was not ready to apply controls on EU goods and the introduction of those controls has been delayed on several occasions. EU agrifood products arriving at English Channel ports started being checked earlier in 2024. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJsGZL-zb54 Products from the Republic of Ireland have not been checked due to a lack of facilities at Great Britain’s west coast ports. Holyhead in north Wales is one of the main ports for Irish goods entering Great Britain. Sarah Morton, regional director for Kier Construction, the main contractor on the project, said the company’s design and delivery team had worked closely with the Welsh government to plan the buiding of the post. “We are excited that the project is underway,” she said. Goods from Northern Ireland going directly to Great Britain will not face any new checks or controls as the UK government has guaranteed they will have “unfettered access”. What is the new Northern Ireland trade deal? In January, the UK government also confirmed it would not build a border control post at Cairnryan. The Scottish port is the main access point for Northern Ireland goods entering Great Britain. A border control post had been planned in order to check Republic of Ireland goods being sent to Scotland via Northern Ireland ports. That was politically controversial as it raised the prospect of Northern Ireland goods also being caught up in the checks. While the border control post plan has now been scrapped, lorries from the Republic of Ireland will still be subject to spot checks. Banzai Japan Music Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syHHGzkF_s Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Book Novotel Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR8YYeb4PMk Banzai Japan Social Media Fumi Fujisaki Idol Riko Ueno Idol Rino Ibusuki Idol Yunagi Nino Idol Shiori Fujisaki Idol Kana Ichinose Idol Hoshino Arice Idol Sasa Sasagawa Idol Kosaka Yuu Idol Tsukumo Aira Idol Maika Ando Idol Yuuki Mochimaru Idol