About 600 kilometers separate his Madrid headquarters from Carballo, the town in A Coruña where his grandfather founded a small canning factory in 1940.. Calvo was born there and from his internationalization process emerged what until this week was
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The challenge of "resistance": Vox demands continuous demonstrations against the amnesty and the PP sees it as "difficult" to keep up
At 12:00 o'clock a flood of constitutional and European flags was still descending towards Cibeles.. Through Serrano, through Alcalá, along Paseo del Prado, along Gran Vía or through Alfonso XII. Late but on time. Dozens of buses from all over Spain rested on the banks of the Retiro like stranded barges. There was less crowding than on other occasions, but this continuous trickle was having an effect, and a quarter of an hour later the main tributary of the demonstration already surpassed Colón, a kilometer away.. The sun, which fell fortuitously and vertically on the indigo blue of the community insignia, gave the call the last push of attendance.
The large demonstration by civil society against the pacts of Pedro Sánchez and the independentists of Junts and ERC then broke out in a univocal cry against the amnesty: “Not in my name!”. According to the organizers, there were around a million people. The Government Delegation lowered the figure to 170,000 attendees, more than double the 80,000 it estimated last Sunday, also in Madrid, at the rally called by the PP.
Without party acronyms or politicians' speeches, but with the presence of the senior staff of the PP and Vox, the protest this Saturday in Madrid was designed as the central axis of the response against the agreements to erase the crimes of the process. That is, as the inaugural episode of “the resistance”. This is how the philosopher Fernando Savater named it, who insisted that we are only facing the “first step” of that resistance.
Manifestation
Policy. Thousands of people protest in Madrid against the amnesty
Thousands of people protest in Madrid against the amnesty
Opinion. “Europe is with you!”
“Europe is with you!”
The protest was led by Foro Libertady Alternativa, Unión 78, Cataluña Suma, Pie en Pared, S'ha Finish!, and a long list of more than a hundred organizations.. Its manifesto emphasizes that Spain is entering “a new phase of a process that puts the very existence of Spain at certain risk” and “we cannot remain impassive in the face of it.”. “We risk being or not being,” he warns.
Having already averted the danger of having collapsed in the previous protests, the protesters burst into a great ovation for Alejo Vidal-Quadras to unseal the event. The former president of the Catalan PP and founder of Vox is recovering from the shot in the face he suffered a week ago just a few blocks away. From the main stage the words of the tweet with which he gave proof of his recovery echoed over the public address system: “Sanchism turns the electoral adversary into an enemy to be expelled from the system by destroying the basic constitutional consensus.”
The first chants then began to be heard, still timid, as if to warm up: “United Spain will never be defeated!”. And then the most enthusiastic cry of the demonstration, “Puigdemont to prison!”, which immediately escalated to “Pedro Sánchez to prison!”. The insult “Pedro Sánchez, son of a bitch!” also thundered, followed by its euphemistic synonym “I like fruit.”. They insisted on the latter to its author, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, upon her arrival in Cibeles.
The Madrid president – by far the most acclaimed – called to “stop what is happening in Spain together.”. «They are taking us to an extreme and meaningless situation, never seen in democracy. And the damage is irreversible,” he warned, from the background of his statements to the media.. “We are not going to have any kind of fear,” Feijóo harangued his people, also through the press.. «It is one thing to have the power and another to be right. It is one thing to have obtained enough support, but they know that they do not have the votes to do what they are doing,” he stressed.
“Lower your arms”
Of course, at the end of the protest, PP sources warned that it will be “very difficult” to hold such massive demonstrations again and in such a continuous manner once Sánchez has already promised his position as president with 179 yeses out of 350.. Because? Due to the natural tendency of Spaniards to “lower their arms” when they consider it impossible to get the Government to back down. And the Genoa leadership is convinced that Sánchez will continue “until the end” with his plan to amnesty a decade of crimes related to the attempt to separate Catalonia from the rest of Spain.
Santiago Abascal wanted to turn the focus towards the PP, and revealed that he had asked Feijóo for a meeting to articulate a joint response and analyze the possibilities that the Senate has to stop the amnesty law. The leader of the PP responded “without further ado,” according to those around him. In any case, the president of Vox added to the press that “we cannot give up the battle as lost, we must continue resisting with sustained social mobilization, give a coordinated institutional response in the regions where there is no coup majority, in the Senate.” and communicate to all our international allies what is happening in Spain with the attack on the independence of powers and the equality of the Spanish people.
“I know that right now, in this square, there are also many socialists” like him who are ashamed of a PSOE that is “ideologically dead,” said Félix Ovejero, professor and columnist for EL MUNDO.. And the writer Andrés Trapiello – also a prominent author of this newspaper – stressed that “the buying and selling” of the State has uncovered an operation by the PSOE to gaslight anyone who thinks differently: “Sánchez wants to drive us crazy” with “an amnesty that is an “an eyesore and a moral mockery,” he said, because “his personal ambition has no limits or scruples.”
Albert Boadella warned that Spain “is on its way to ending up in a dictatorship”. “It fucks me up!” added the playwright graphically.. And the aforementioned Savater was the one who closed the speeches: “Puigdemont must be escorted, it seems good to me: he must be escorted, taken to Alcalá-Meco and left there.”
After the event, a series of protesters blocked the A-6 highway during the afternoon and remained about 150 meters from one of the entrances to the La Moncloa complex.
The bad omen of Gavi's tears: he suffers a "major injury" and there are fears for the cruciate injury in his right knee
A minute that froze Spain. Gavi fell, run over by the Georgian Luka Lochoshvili, who left a blow on his right knee, but the Sevillian, treated for a few moments, returned to the game with the impetus that accompanies his game.. The next play was followed by a fade to black. He again fearlessly looked for a long ball from Carvajal, although it came from offside, but before touching it, his right knee failed him.. The whiplash of pain was reflected on his face. I wanted to walk, but I could barely limp. Impossible to continue and not think about the cruciate ligament. He asked for a substitution in the 25th minute and put his hands to his face before bursting into tears on the way to the locker room.. It was the worst omen.
“Knowing what a warrior Gavi is and seeing how he left the field, we believe it could be something serious,” acknowledged his friend Ferran Torres, who dedicated his goal to him.. According to official information from the Federation, Gavi suffers “a significant injury to his right knee”, the real extent of which is pending the tests that will be carried out in the next few hours.. However, in the federation environment, after the first examinations, it was feared that the cruciate ligament may have been torn. The RFEF confirmed that the footballer would travel to Barcelona urgently at the end of the match and that the director of the national team, Albert Luque, would accompany him.
De la Fuente could not be more sincere on the verge of tears. “It is the most bitter victory I have ever experienced in my life. The hardest, most bitter day of my career. It seemed like we had lost. We are destroyed,” he said. “At half-time the locker room looked like a wake. The boy was broken, destroyed. I couldn't assume that that could happen to him,” he warned.
His message to the group had to be simple and far from football. “Even for me it was difficult to explain the seriousness of what had happened.”. But we had to move forward with the game in tribute to our fallen teammate.. We had to emotionally recover the footballers,” he revealed..
The blow to the locker room, how they saw Gavi destroyed in the minutes of rest, became evident in the second half, when Ferran Torres scored and showed the shirt with the number 9 of his injured teammate in celebration.. A tribute as a prolegomena to an absence that will be long.
The message served to beat Georgia but no one got the Sevillian out of their heads. “We are praying that it is not so serious and we can have Gavi with us soon,” Gayá confessed at the end of a match in which Spain did not celebrate having achieved an almost perfect classification. «We couldn't do it because it has been a very hard blow for everyone. Now we just hope that he recovers as soon as possible,” asked Le Normand, who scored his first goal for Spain but will have bittersweet memories of this match.
The injury overshadowed the outstanding “almost a honorary degree” that the coach gave to his players nor the “brilliant” classification.. He didn't even have the body to talk about a renovation that will have to close before the Euro. “When there are two parties that want to understand each other, they understand each other.”. And I am happy in the national team,” he simply said.. It wasn't night for that.
An essential player
Gavi had the cross of a football that he always had in mind. He broke precocity records with his debut on October 6, 2021 in the Nations League semifinals against Italy. He was 17 years and 62 days old and coach Luis Enrique blindly trusted his football and his self-confidence.. Since then, 28 international matches and five goals.
Essential for FC Barcelona, even more so after Pedri's injuries, it is also essential for Luis de la Fuente's Spain. Of the 23 games he could play this season, he has played 21. Of them, 15 have been with Barça, with whom he has only lost two, and in nine he has played 90 minutes.
Since the Rioja coach sits on the bench, Gavi is, along with Rodri, the only player he has only given up in one game. He has started in all the qualifying matches for the German Euro Cup except in that experiment against Scotland in Hampden Park and was in the eleven of the two Nations League matches against Italy and Croatia. Only the Manchester City midfielder can boast similar confidence, even though his break was a few days ago in Cyprus.
“It was an accident. Gavi was perfect. He came to this window after having rested for cards. And he always wants to train and play. He is gifted. The idea was not that he would play 90 minutes, but that no longer matters,” said the coach who sent a message to FC Barcelona: “We are very sorry, in our souls.”
Nobody remembered that Spain, with this victory, finished this classification as first in the group and will start in the seeding pot in the draw on December 2 in Hamburg that will match the 24 teams qualified for the Euro Cup.
Djokovic overwhelms Sinner, wins his seventh masters tournament and surpasses Federer
Life goes by and Novak Djokovic never gets tired of winning. He began 2023 with the Australian Open, to win his twenty-second Grand Slam title and tie with Rafael Nadal, whom he already surpasses in two majors, and concludes it with his seventh masters tournament, remaining alone at the head of this list after leaving back to Roger Federer. When time was supposed to start chasing him, Djokovic, 36, exhibits amazing strength. In less than 24 hours, the world number 1 has passed Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, aged 20 and 22, second and fourth in the rankings.. Also champion at Roland Garros and the United States Open, as well as in Cincinnati, Paris-Bercy and Adelaide, he finishes the course with more titles than anyone else, seven, and is comfortably installed in first place in the ranking, where he concludes for his eighth season.. He still has the possibility of winning the Davis Cup again with Serbia, the final phase of which begins this Tuesday in Malaga.
He beat the Italian by a double 6-3, in one hour and 48 minutes, four days after he managed to defeat him, for the first time, in the group stage. No one had beaten the Serbian twice in this tournament: not Alexander Zverev, who lost in the 2018 round robin but beat him in the final of the tournament; nor Roger Federer, who beat him in the 2015 group stage only to lose in the final; nor Nikolay Davydenko, who lost in the round robin and in the 2008 final. Sinner was not going to achieve it either, who appeared in this Sunday's game with unusual presence.
In case there was any doubt after his three victories in the group stage, he held his own in the semifinal against Daniil Medvedev, who had a difficult time after losing the second set. Under the inertia of the best week of his career, despite showing obvious symptoms of fatigue, he finished off the Russian. Merciless from the first ball, Djokovic closed any debate with a majestic performance, perhaps one of the best in memory. Cruel fate for Sinner, who, overcoming his physical problems, with his victory against Holger Rune in the last match of the Green Group rescued a Djokovic who was out of the tournament.
Appeased public
The one from Belgrade, who scored 10 consecutive points at the start of the second set, had already silenced the audience that filled the 13,000 seats at the Pala Alpitour with an unusual start. All of Sinner's merits seemed to belong to a distant past. Sharp with each ball, electric with his legs and with an efficiency in the service typical of a specialist, he left the set with 10 winners and only two unforced errors. The Italian only had to barely stay in the game and not leave it with a embarrassing score.
He also did not look for solutions, when he had shown throughout the week that he can play at different speeds. Trying to beat Djokovic by continually going hard, without an alternative proposal that could make him uncomfortable, only widened the highway along which the Balkan man ran with the success of his approach.. Away from the baseline, rowing from side to side, Sinner proved harmless. He only raised his voice in the sixth game of the second set, with two balls that would have given him the tie at three. As happened to Alcaraz in Saturday's semifinal, he was unable to take advantage of them, replicated by two Nole winners that he was not able to subtract.
Always with water up to his neck, threatened on five occasions with remaining a astronomical distance away on the scoreboard, if the San Candido tennis player offered anything, erratic in the face of some concessions from Djokovic in the second set, it was dedication and dignity, virtues of which He will always be able to brag about his admirable attitude towards Rune, but on this occasion they were not enough baggage to defeat the man whom he had saved from shipwreck.
Unicaja ends Real Madrid's impressive streak in the most amazing way: "It had to happen"
“Everyone expects that we are going to lose,” Ibon Navarro announced in the preview, before visiting a team that seemed like a locomotive in motion, the Real Madrid of 19 consecutive victories.. But it was Unicaja, sheep's clothing, that put an end to the streak with a superb second half, displaying that competitive character that has taken them so far lately.. [93-99: Narration and statistics]
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Because also the people from Malaga, the current Cup champions – in Badalona they also knocked down Real Madrid, among others -, rushed to WiZink, eight wins in a row, the machinery well-oiled in their particular commitment to continuity. But few seemed to believe when, midway through the third act, a triple by Dzanan Musa made it 62-41.. The green comeback was amazing, five minutes from the end Kalinoski, also from the perimeter, tied the tie at 81. “I would classify this as a victory of a lot of faith, determination and believing that we had to do 40 minutes of hard work without looking at the scoreboard,” summarized Navarro, who had Kravish (23 points) and Cameron Taylor (19 and 27 PIR) to his best men.
It was the fourth game in a week for Madrid, which saw its streak compromised on Sunday in Bilbao and on Tuesday in Valencia. He managed to save those duels in the anguish of tight finals, on Thursday he crushed Monaco and on Friday he saw how he was going to lose Guerschon Yabusele for a while, with a knee injury. Without the Frenchman and with the masked Eli Ndiaye back (although he only played a few seconds) a defeat came without buts, as Chus Mateo recognized. “They have played better than us and they have beaten us, they deserved it. It is fair to recognize that today they have been especially better in that second half. Maybe we have fallen a little physically or we have not had the mental toughness of other occasions,” he admitted.. The coach distributed minutes and efforts in his rotation (only Campazzo and Deck barely exceeded 25 minutes), but this time his pupils did not have enough mental strength or success to contain the visitor's comeback..
The whites remain leaders alone in the Endesa League (7-1) and also in the Euroleague (8-0). They won the Super Cup and could also boast of the victory against Luka Doncic's Mavericks. On the way to that 19-1 to boast, they defeated Barça three times. “We have to learn from this defeat that sooner or later had to come. We have been working very hard since September, since the Endesa Super Cup, and sooner or later this had to happen.. We move forward, we continue working and we will continue doing things the way we have them in our heads and forgetting the defeat starting tomorrow,” Mateo reflected.
Because the rhythm doesn't stop. On Thursday, again on WiZink, Real Madrid hosts Alba Berlin (bottom of the Euroleague) and Andorra on Sunday in ACB.
Andrés Feliz signs the basket of the year: from his field and over the horn for Joventut's victory
A three-pointer at the buzzer from midfield by Andrés Feliz gave Joventut Badalona the victory (81-78) against a Surne Bilbao team that was practically ahead the entire game.
Andrés Feliz, with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, was the best player of the match. Also in green and black, Deshaun Thomas, with 25 points, was the top scorer.
The game began with a nice exchange of baskets between both teams starring Deshaun Thomas and Adam Smith at the beginning with many transitions to the counterattack and good defenses (6-9, min. 5).
For the Basques, in addition to Smith himself, Alex Renfroe joined the scoring party to put the first gap on the scoreboard (10-16, min. 7).
However, the green and black, with the return to the fields of Andrés Feliz after more than a month of absence, ignited everyone in the Olímpic, and La Penya reacted with the help of Kenny Chery (19-19, min. 10).
Four consecutive points to start the second period from Deshaun Thomas put the first advantage for the Catalans (24-20, min. 13), but in the blink of an eye, the partial visitor would arrive to turn the tables again.
A triple by Estonian Kristian Kullamae once again fired the Bilbao team in the light to cause a timeout for Carles Duran (27-33, min. 18).
The eruption of young Michael Ruzic gave Joventut wings, putting the score at 38, but a three-pointer at the buzzer before Álex Reyes left Surne Bilbao ahead at halftime (38-41).
After the restart, another set led by Thomas put the black and green team ahead, but again it was a mirage.. From the next play, Surne Bilbao opened the gap again with some good minutes from Renfroe (43-49, min. 25).
The players led by Jaume Ponsarnau managed to maintain the advantage at the end of the third quarter after several consecutive positive actions by Kullamae (53-60, min. 30).
In the last ten minutes of the game, Álex Reyes scored the maximum with one of his triples (56-64, min. 32). However, La Penya believed until the end and reached the final minutes with options for a comeback.
Surne Bilbao began to miss free throws in the final stretch and Pau Ribas tied the game (78-78) with five seconds remaining.
Kullamae had the shot to win, but missed. And Andrés Feliz grabbed the rebound and scored a triple from the middle of the court at the buzzer to win the game and certify Joventut Badalona's 81-78 victory.
Carlos Sainz's bad fare and the oil stain caused by his spin: "It is unacceptable"
It was all due to the breakdowns in the cars from which Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc greeted spectators during the traditional Drivers Parade.. Several oil leaks dirty the left side of the grill and the Las Vegas workers had to arm themselves with brushes and shovels to avoid another embarrassment like the one on Thursday. The conditioning tasks, with the rudimentary sepiolite, did not have an effect. And Carlos Sainz suffered the consequences.
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The bad luck of the Madrid native, who had already destroyed his car due to a manhole cover during the first training session, continued at the start, passing over that very delicate point.. “It is not fair that all the oil was found in the interior area. In addition to the fact that the track was already dirty, an hour before the start they take out cars that leak oil. This, again, is something unacceptable,” explained the Ferrari driver, twelfth on the grid and sixth at the finish line.
“Going through areas of oil left by cars an hour before the race is something that must be improved for the future,” said Sainz, visibly upset by these logistical problems.. “This problem, surely, caused the spin in the first corner,” said the Spaniard, who would end up colliding with Hamilton and falling to the penultimate place, only ahead of Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas.
“I didn't even step on the brake”
Although his approach to the curve was plagued by problems, he found less grip than expected. “I only touched the brake, I didn't even press it and the tires locked. It was 100 meters before the curve, but it was 100 km/h slower than on a qualifying lap. “Maybe the cold tires also played a role, but it was absolutely shocking,” Sainz explained.
At least, his consistency and poise allowed him to reach the finish line in sixth position, just ahead of the Mercedes. “I did everything I could and it was a good comeback, because I also suffered graining following other cars. We couldn't overtake because we were trying to protect the engine and I also had to take care of the tires so that they didn't open up more,” he said.
Sainz and Leclerc, during the Drivers Parade in Las Vegas.
However, Sainz also wanted to send a message to the Silver Arrows. “I'm very happy to finish ahead of those who wanted to see me sanctioned,” he said in reference to Toto Wolff's complaints after changing the batteries in his Ferrari, which would end up leading to a penalty of 10 places on the grid..
And the fight for second place in the Constructors' World Championship has been taken very seriously within the Scuderia.. In the absence of the last event on the calendar, next Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the Maranello team has 388 points, only four less than the men led by Toto Wolff.
A truce is finalized in the Israeli offensive in exchange for the release of hostages
In a psychological battle parallel to their intense war, Israel and the fundamentalist group Hamas are getting closer than ever to a humanitarian truce and the release of several dozen of the 239 kidnapped on October 7.. The Army released images of two of them (which it identified from Nepal and Thailand) being transferred that day by armed troops to the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza where the ceasefire – if the agreement is confirmed – could influence the one that extends in the north.. This Sunday, the Israeli-Lebanese border was, once again, the scene of attacks and reprisals.
“We have not yet reached an agreement, but we continue to work hard for it,” said the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, responding to information from The Washington Post about an agreement in principle for a five-day truce in exchange for the release of 50 hostages (children and their mothers) in several phases and an increase in the entry of fuel into the Gaza Strip.
Qatar – a key player in the negotiation due to its relationship with Hamas – warned that the leaks could harm the negotiations but admitted that the pact is very close.. So much so that now it is just a matter of overcoming technical obstacles. “The issues in dispute at this time are more practical, logistical,” declared Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohamed Bin Abdulrahman al Thani. “There were ups and downs but I think now I have more confidence that we are close enough to reach an agreement that can bring people back to their homes safely,” he said at a news conference in Doha with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, in which he denounced that the Israeli offensive “does not respect international laws, conventions and practices”. “Every minute that passes without an Israeli ceasefire, the humanitarian, moral and legal disaster continues to grow,” he added..
Last week, Israel rejected the Qatari proposal, on behalf of Hamas, since it did not include the release of children and their mothers at the same time.. In the middle of a war, this is a very complex negotiation due to the clash of objectives, fears and interests.. The connection line between Tel Aviv (Defense and Army headquarters), Gaza Strip (Hamas leader, Ismail Sinwar), Doha (headquarters of Hamas leadership abroad and main donor to the Palestinian enclave) and Washington (main ally of Israel and with excellent relations with Qatar) have not always been smooth due to events on the battlefront.
Furthermore, while in the war cabinet, meeting again tonight, there were doubts and divisions about which objective is a priority (freeing hostages or destroying Hamas), Sinwar is unpredictable.. The Palestinian most wanted by Israel since the 7-0 defeat resumed the negotiation channel with Doha after several days of rupture in protest against the entry of Israeli soldiers into parts of the Al Shifa hospital.
The largest health complex in Gaza remains a major focus of attention and concern. On the one hand, and after several days of searches in which they showed an arsenal in one of the rooms, the Israeli Army showed images and a video of the interior of a “fortified” tunnel 10 meters deep and 55 meters long that leads to an explosive-proof door and a firing hole. According to Israel, he was discovered under a shed in Al Shifa next to a Nukba Unit vehicle containing weapons and explosives.. “This tunnel shows that Hamas used this Al Shifa hospital as cover for terrorist infrastructure and activities,” denounced spokesman Daniel Hagari, accusing Hamas of killing one of the abducted women in the center.
Baby evacuation
On the other hand, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced the evacuation of the 31 premature babies who remained in the hospital.. “Three doctors and two nurses accompany them. Their evacuation to Egypt is being prepared,” the general director of the hospitals, Mohamed Zaqout, explained in the morning, so that hours later the Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed that they were transported in their ambulances to the south “in preparation for their transferred to Emirates hospital in Rafah”.
After making its first visit to Al Shifa, in which UNWRA also participated, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that the soldiers guaranteed safe access for observers in a high-risk area, being very close to fighting. , and added that “they could only have been in the hospital for an hour, which they called the dead zone.”. The WHO indicated that there were 291 patients in Al Shifa.
On the other hand, Israel and Hezbollah have been at war for more than 40 days without declaring it. On Sunday, the pro-Iran group took advantage of the fog on the Israeli-Lebanese border to significantly and simultaneously increase its shells and anti-tank missiles against positions in Israel, which responded with artillery and air strikes in a dynamic that has not yet turned into a confrontation. large scale as in 2006.
A 'common sense' minister to stir up the UK's culture war
Who. Esther McVey, MP from the hard wing of the Tories, has been promoted to minister without portfolio (unofficially, of common sense) in the latest crisis of Rishi Sunak's Government. That. Its mission will be to protect against cancel culture in the United Kingdom.. Because. She has been a presenter on the ultra-conservative channel GB News, where she launched diatribes against Wokism in universities.
In the absence of the brash and outspoken Suella Braverman, someone had to continue swinging the hatchet against woke culture in the UK. And the chosen one was Esther McVey (56 years old), promoted by Rishi Sunak to minister without portfolio and already known unofficially as the minister of common sense.. Your mission? Fight this new variant of progress and political correctness that has become the bête noire of the British conservative tabloids.
The Sun was precisely the first to define what Esther McVey's exact role will be, citing Downing Street sources: “She will be in charge of ensuring common sense and directing the Government's anti-woke agenda.”. And it will also be the premier's communicating vessel with the hardline wing of his party, which continually asks for more wood and threatens day and night with rebellion.
McVey herself, a survivor in the shadows of the Cameron era, the May era and the Johnson era, has celebrated in style her return to the political spotlight after her success as a presenter on the ultra-conservative channel GB News, the British version from the vociferous Fox News.
“I don't think it's a coincidence that the Prime Minister looked for a champion of common sense and found her precisely at GB News, the home of common sense.”. “I will do everything I can not to disappoint you,” he said.
And he will obviously do everything he can to stir up the culture war between now and the 2024 elections.. In her television pulpit, along with her husband Philip Davies, McVey attacked universities for the trans cause and the historical revisionism of colonialism. And in her failed campaign as a Tory leadership candidate (she came last) she promised to end inclusion and diversity policies in the Government.
Born in Liverpool in 1967, raised during her early years in a hospice because her parents did not have the money to support her, seasoned in radio and television in her younger years, Esther McVey has a reputation for not holding her tongue. Like when he opposed same-sex sexual education. Or when he criticized “apocalyptic scientists” during the pandemic and questioned “communist lockdowns.”
The most conservative groups equate what is colloquially known as woke with “Marxist cultural dogma”. 59% of Britons recently admitted that they did not know the exact meaning of the word (literally, awake or alert). The term, imported from the United States and initially applied to social and racial injustices, has been reinterpreted by the right until it becomes a weapon thrown against the left, almost an insult.
Aware of the pull of the issue among right-wing voters, Rishi Sunak pledged in his campaign to “tackle the woke nonsense that is infecting public life”. As soon as he arrived at Downing Street, he decided to create the position of so-called director of freedom of expression, which fell to the Cambridge philosopher Arif Ahmed, known for his diatribes against cancel culture on university campuses.
The greatest ally of common sense that Esther McVey will have in the cabinet will undoubtedly be the deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who at the time said: “Woke ideology is a dangerous form of decadence in our society. In our schools and in our universities, in the faculties of social sciences and pure sciences, in government agencies and in corporations…. “We cannot renounce our fundamental values, as if the defense of freedoms were something reactionary.”
Ukraine says it pushed back Russian forces on the other side of the Dnieper River
The Ukrainian army claims to have pushed the Russians “between three and eight kilometers” on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, occupied by Moscow, the first estimate of its advance in the area after months of fruitless counteroffensive.
kyiv hopes to soon break through Russian lines and liberate more occupied areas, but is running into Russian firepower and solid defenses.. Taking positions in depth on the left bank of the Dnieper could lead to a more ambitious Ukrainian operation in the south. The advance is discreet: “Preliminary figures range from 3 to 8 kilometers, depending on the particularities, geography and topography of the left bank,” said army spokesperson Natalia Gumeniuk, in statements to Ukrainian television cited by AFP. But the most important thing for kyiv is to be able to deploy large numbers of soldiers, vehicles and artillery equipment.. Gaining a foothold in that area is difficult, surrounded by marshes under intense bombardment.. Gumeniuk did not specify whether Kiev forces completely control this area of the southern region of Kherson, or whether the Russian army has retreated in the face of the Ukrainian push.
If the progress of these days is confirmed, it would be the biggest advance of the Ukrainian army against the Russian one in several months. The last major success claimed by Ukraine in its counteroffensive was the liberation of the town of Robotyne in August in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
Kiev launched in June, with the arms support of its Western allies, an expected counteroffensive against the invading Russian troops, which has not given the expected result and consisted of the Ukrainian army taking over a few towns in the south and east.. But already on Friday, kyiv said it had strengthened positions on the left bank of the Dnieper, and reported “intense fighting” and “strong Russian resistance” on that side of the front.. Moscow did not immediately comment, although two Russian agencies reported last week of a tactical withdrawal by the Russians only to withdraw the news hours later..
In this area of southern Ukraine, the Dnieper has served as a front line since the Russian army withdrew from the city of Kherson in November 2022.. But the Russians are still close and civilians are still suffering. A three-year-old girl was injured during the bombing of Kherson and was in intensive care last night.
Ukraine continues to carry out offensive operation in the direction of Melitopol. Meanwhile in Donbas, Russian troops do not give up their attempts to surround Avdiivka, but Ukrainian forces continue to maintain their positions..
Drones are back
Early Sunday morning, both kyiv and Moscow were targeted by Russian and Ukrainian drone attacks respectively, with no casualties reported.. According to the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the air defense forces shot down 15 of 20 drones. Air defense had to intervene in the kyiv, Chernigov and Poltava regions. Anti-aircraft defenses on each side intercepted most of the devices.
A Ukrainian drone managed to reach near the Russian capital, but “it was destroyed by air defense teams” in the Bogorodskoye district, Moscow region.. There were also Ukrainian attacks in the Kursk region. Ukrainian drone attacks against the Moscow region were frequent in the spring, before and at the start of kyiv's counteroffensive, but had decreased in recent weeks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fears that Russia will increase its attacks on the energy system, to paralyze the country's heating and electricity supply, as happened a year ago. “The closer we get to winter, the more the Russians will try to intensify their attacks,” warned Zelensky, who continues on the offensive. The kyiv Government delivered 2,000 drones to its troops on the front this weekend. Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov noted that Ukrainian drones destroyed 39 tanks, 57 heavy weapons and 34 armored vehicles in a single week.