Graham Linehan cleared of harassing trans activist but convicted of damaging phone
The Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has been cleared of harassing a transgender activist on social media but found guilty of criminal damage of their mobile phone outside a conference in London last year,The 57-year-old flew from Arizona to appear at Westminster magistrates court in person on Tuesday, where the judgment was delivered,Linehan denied harassing Sophia Brooks on social media between 11 and 27 October 2024, and a charge of criminal damage of their mobile phone on 19 October last year outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster,Judge Clarke fined Linehan £500 and ordered him to pay costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200,Linehan’s lawyer, Sarah Vine KC, asked that he be given 28 days to pay the full amount.
The trial heard that Brooks had begun taking photographs of delegates at the event during a speech by Fiona McAnena, the director of campaigns at Sex Matters, a UK gender-critical campaign group.Outside the event, the activist asked Linehan: “Why do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?”In response, the court heard that Linehan had called Brooks a “sissy porn-watching scumbag”, a “groomer” and a “disgusting incel”, with the complainant responding: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced.”The judge found that Linehan had taken Brooks’s phone because he was “angry and fed up”, and had damaged it by knocking it to the ground.She said that while the offence was not aggravated by the fact the complainant was transgender, it was because they were 17 years old at the time.She ruled that she was “not sure to the criminal standard” that Linehan had demonstrated hostility based on the complainant being transgender.
She added that she did not find the complainant “was as alarmed or distressed” as they had portrayed themself.The prosecutor Julia Faure Walker told the court that Linehan had written “repeated, abusive, unreasonable” social media posts about Brooks, whom he referred to as Tarquin.Vine said: “The background of this case involves what I would describe as provocative conduct by the complainant, and the raising of allegations in the service of, broadly speaking, political point-scoring.”She added that the costs to Linehan had “been enormous”, and resulted from a “momentary lapse of control” which led to behaviour that “could not be described as beyond reproach”.The comedy writer, who has well-publicised strong views on gender issues, said his “life was made hell” by trans activists, adding that the complainant was a “young soldier in the trans activist army”.
The writer added: “He was misogynistic, he was abusive, he was snide.He depended on his anonymity to get close to people and hurt them, and I wanted to destroy that anonymity.”He told journalists outside the court that he hoped the not guilty verdict would mean that “people in the future won’t be subject to those kind of tactics”.
Soup firm Campbell’s dismisses executive over alleged ‘poor people’ comments
Campbell’s has dismissed an executive who allegedly referred to the soup company’s products as being made for “poor people” and denigrated its Indian employees.Martin Bally, who was the vice-president of Campbell’s information technology department, was recorded making the alleged comments by another employee.Campbell’s – which started producing canned condensed soup in 1897, and whose cans feature in some of Andy Warhol’s best-known 1960s pop artworks – said it had reviewed the recording and believed the voice to belong to Bally.Campbell’s made “highly processed food” and “shit for fucking poor people”, Bally reportedly told a former employee, Robert Garza, according to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Garza.In an hour-long rant, broadcast by a Michigan TV station, Bally goes on to say: “Who buys our shit? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely any more
‘The customers are still there’: Welsh mussel farmers hope post-Brexit reset can revive business
Rising out of the water, nets bulge with thousands of blue mussels. Pulled back to the dredging boat, they are emptied into a hopper and rinsed with water.They have just been harvested fresh from the bottom of the Menai Strait, the channel that separates the north Wales mainland from the island of Anglesey.On a blustery, damp morning, skipper Alan Owen guides the 43-metre Valente out of Port Penrhyn, close to the city of Bangor, towards the mussel grounds around the pier.“It’s windy today but we’re not jumping up and down as there aren’t big waves
European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16s
Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.The European Commission, which is responsible for initiating EU law, is already studying Australia’s world-first social-media ban for under-16s, which is due to take effect next month.In a speech in September, the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would watch the implementation of Australia’s policy
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.Raine killed himself in April after extensive conversations and “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”, the family’s lawyer has said.The lawsuit alleges the teenager discussed a method of suicide with ChatGPT on several occasions, that it guided him on whether a suggested method would work, offered to help him write a suicide note to his parents and that the version of the technology he used was “rushed to market … despite clear safety issues”.According to filings at the superior court of the state of California on Tuesday, OpenAI said that “to the extent that any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event” Raine’s “injuries and harm were caused or contributed to, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by [his] misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT”
Geraint Thomas lands new Ineos role as struggling team make major reshuffle
Geraint Thomas has been appointed as the new director of racing at Ineos Grenadiers, a few weeks after retiring from competition at this year’s Tour of Britain. “This team has been my home since day one, and stepping into this role feels like a natural next step,” Thomas said.The move by Thomas, who won the Tour de France in 2018, has been long-expected and comes after a major management reshuffle at Ineos Grenadiers, under which the sports directors Zak Dempster and Oli Cookson moved to the revamped Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team.According to Ineos, Thomas’s newly created leadership role will see him working closely with Ineos’s head of sport, Dave Brailsford, and performance director, Scott Drawer, “providing crucial input into race strategy, rider recruitment, development and race readiness”.Thomas, who last finished on a Grand Tour podium at the 2024 Giro d’Italia when he placed third to Tadej Pogacar, rode this year’s Tour de France and has a blend of stage racing and one-day racing experience
The Super Bowl Shuffle at 40: how a goofy rap classic boosted the Bears’ title run
A new documentary charts how a song that featured a 335lb rapper and bad dancing went viral in the pre-internet era The Chicago Bears are 8-3 and soaring in this season’s NFL standings. For a fanbase that’s grown accustomed to looking up at the division rival Green Bay Packers and looking ahead to the next season’s prospects, it’s reason to smell the roses and indulge in some light strutting. But even as fans find themselves looking forward to the Bears’ first playoff berth in five years, something that once seemed unthinkable with a second-year quarterback and a rookie head coaching helming a squad that managed only five wins last year, no fan is thinking the 2025 Bears have a Super Bowl run in them – not without a rap song to lay the marker down.Before the 1985 edition of the Bears romped to victory in Super Bowl XX, they tempted fate by recording The Super Bowl Shuffle. Although the song only peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the accompanying video came to rival Michael Jackson’s Thriller for popularity as it popped up endlessly on TV during the Bears’ title run
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