Billy Bragg calls for big turnout at London march against far right
Billy Bragg has encouraged people to send a clear message to those seeking to divide the country by turning out to support what is expected to be the biggest multicultural march in UK history on Saturday.Speaking to the Guardian before the Together Alliance’s march against the far right in central London, the musician and political activist said participants hoped to “send out a message to our fellow citizens that we are willing to take a stand against [the politics of hate] being imported into the UK”.The event, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people, is supported by a wide range of celebrities, including the actors Christopher Eccleston, David Harewood, Lenny Henry, Steve Coogan, Toby Jones, Lolly Adefope and Maxine Peake, the musicians Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church, Brian Eno and Beverley Knight, and the comedian James Acaster.Dozens of coaches will leave from across the country on Saturday morning – including 10 from Manchester alone – to begin marching from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square at midday.Two stages – one on Whitehall for speeches and one in Trafalgar Square for music, which are both free to attend – will feature cross-party speakers and award-winning musicians, including Self Esteem, Jessie Ware, Katy B, Joy Crookes, UB40, Fontaines DC, the Charlatans and Hot Chip.
Speeches are expected from the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, and the Labour MP Dawn Butler, as well as trade union leaders.Bragg, who will perform on the speakers’ stage, said the political situation in the UK and around the world was shifting.“I think we’re in a situation where the idea of universal rights, the sort of postwar settlement after the Holocaust where we realised that rights had to belong to individuals if they were going to be protected … is being severely challenged by a policy that you might call ‘might is right’, where the strongest do what they want to the weakest.”He said Donald Trump was the de facto leader of the approach, calling him a “blaring horn that never switches off”.“He’s like a constant reminder of the cruel realities of the politics of division,” he said.
Bragg said that message could be countered when people came together, and he expected the turnout to exceed that of the “unite the kingdom” rally in September last year, in which 110,000 people marched through the streets of London waving England flags and union jacks and chanting racist and anti-immigrant slogans,“You see a lot of people out on the streets marching for the kind of politics that you want,” he said,“And you feel, for a moment, you feel seen,You feel that your concerns are legitimate,And that’s a really important thing.
It’s the start of something,”Sabby Dhalu, of Stand Up to Racism, one of the members of the Together Alliance, said: “Together was formed in response to last September’s far-right ‘unite the kingdom’ demonstration, when violent groups went on the rampage,The overwhelming majority of people reject the racism, Islamophobia, division, hatred and violence promoted by Tommy Robinson and the far right,“This Saturday we will demonstrate that clearly,Tens of thousands will take to the streets of central London, bringing the same spirit of unity that helped bring the racist riots of 2024 to a halt.
”Bragg said: “In the end, if we believe in those basic fundamental values of empathy, then we’re going to need that,Because that’s the one thing that Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump seem to lack – any sense of empathy whatsoever,“And that angers me because I’m in the empathy business, that’s what music does,It makes you feel that you’re not alone,So that’s why we’re in this fight.
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Ministers consider charging tourists to enter national museums in England
Ministers are considering charging international tourists to access permanent collections at national museums as part of an initiative to improve arts funding.The government said there was a need for long-term options to fund the struggling arts sector in its response to a review of Arts Council England, which distributes public funding to the arts. Among the options cited was a hotel levy, a policy being consulted on.But Alison Cole, the director of the Cultural Policy Unit thinktank, said charging international tourists would be a “very bad idea”.“There’s a much better way to save our wonderful civic museums and cultural infrastructure across the country, and that we believe is a hotel levy,” she said
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s election integrity push: ‘Like Bill Cosby telling you he’ll watch your drink for you’
Late-night hosts mocked Donald Trump’s mail-in voting as he tries to end mail-in voting, ICE agents in US airports and a mysterious “gift” from Iran.On Tuesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host checked in on Donald Trump’s efforts to pass the so-called Save America act. The sweeping restrictive voting bill would require proof of US citizenship for new voters and end mail-in voting, or what Trump called “mail-in cheating”.“That’s right, he prefers in-person cheating,” Kimmel quipped.“He keeps saying that it was brought to his attention today that we’re the only country that does mail-in voting – when is someone going to step in and tell him that’s not true?” he continued
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at 60: Elizabeth Taylor still crackles with feral energy
After a long day at work, we may not instinctively leap to films about toxic marriages and relationship breakdowns – but by God they can make good drama. Blue Valentine, The Squid and the Whale and A Separation are some of the great portraits of love turned septic. But perhaps greatest of all is Mike Nichols’ directorial debut – a sizzling adaptation of Edward Albee’s legendary Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which arrived in 1966, four years after the play, and helped cement it in the zeitgeist.The film was nominated for every eligible Academy award and won five, including best actress for Elizabeth Taylor, who delivers a searing performance as the ferocious yet vulnerable Martha. It’s lost none of its gut-busting charge today and her brilliantly performed experience still crackles with emotional electricity
Punk masks, Walkmans and Choppers: Museum of Youth Culture to open in London
In the basement of a new-build housing block in Camden, the ventilation system is working flat out. The fans whir like a chainsaw orchestra bouncing around the concrete room as they attempt to deal with a slight damp problem. “This is what it’d sound like if there was a fire!” shouts Jon Swinstead, the driving force behind the Museum of Youth Culture, as he tries to make himself heard above the din.It’s hard to imagine but in a few weeks this empty, slightly soggy space will be transformed into an institution dedicated to all things teenage – a project Swinstead has been working on in one way or another for almost 30 years.Opening on 15 May, the museum has amassed a 100,000-item archive that tells the story of British youth subcultures from mods and rockers, to ravers and emo
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‘In series one, it was bullying, drugs and alcohol. Twenty years on, it’s vapes, cyber-bullying and bloody energy drinks’I was working on women’s prison drama Bad Girls when the idea for Waterloo Road came up. Bad Girls creators Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus had a fiery belief in social justice and did rigorous research. Those are often the foundations of successful serial drama. Ann had once taught in a Glasgow comprehensive and was passionate about education: she believed we write off young people too readily
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