The comic’s love for his home town leads him on this charming and wacky odyssey to find ‘his people’ across the pond. Brummies of the world unite!
Joe Lycett is on a mission to visit every one of the 17 Birminghams in the US and the one in Canada too. Why? Because he is a native of the UK’s own Birmingham, and he wants to see if there is any shared identifiable vibe and to foster a sense of togetherness among the scattered Brummies. Also, as he says, he has a pressing need to make a travelogue for Sky “and if anyone can do it, it’s Frank Sk– … it’s me”. There is also a Birmingham on the moon (a remnant of an impact crater – save your jokes, please, that’s Joe’s department) and one in Belgium. But “we don’t have a lunar budget and I’m not going to Belgium,” says Lycett, so off he sets round the US in a tour bus suitably decked out in Cat Deeley and Alison Hammond scatter cushions. They both hail from Birmingham in the UK. This is not difficult, people. Do try to keep up.
Joe has a sheaf of “friendship agreements” for the Birmingham mayors to sign – including a promise to stand together in Nato’s stead should it fall – a pen once used by the Queen Mother with which to do so, a collection of commemorative plaques and some Birmingham-centred presents to give to the people he meets along the way. There is Cadbury’s chocolate, of course, originally manufactured by one of the Quaker families whose histories are centred round the city; Bird’s custard (“sugar and asbestos”) invented by Brummie chemist Alfred Bird in 1837; HP Sauce (born of Nottingham but made famous under the aegis of the Midland Vinegar Company); and some of the 723 novels by “the David Walliams of her day”, Dame Barbara Cartland, originally of Edgbaston. Not all of these facts are in the programme, by the way. Joe’s enthusiastic spirit and evident love for his home town inspired me to go digging. He has that effect on you. And indeed on his driver, the North Carolinian Randy who, once he has figured out what little there is to figure out – and, indeed, that there is that little to figure out – relaxes and gets into the swing of things and functions as the perfect foil for his passenger.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: North One TV/©Sky UK Ltd
© Photograph: North One TV/©Sky UK Ltd
Change to requirements to serve in combat roles expected to drastically cut number of women
The US army unveiled plans on Monday to require a fitness test with identical physical standards for men and women in combat positions after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered the elimination of gender-based fitness requirements in frontline roles.
The revamped army fitness test, which replaces the combat fitness test, will be “sex-neutral” and force female soldiers in 21 combat specialties to meet the same benchmarks as men – a change expected to drastically cut the number of women qualifying for these positions.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Gerry Broome/AP
© Photograph: Gerry Broome/AP
Revenue year over year in first quarter plunges as analysts conclude Elon Musk’s role in White House has caused branding crisis
Tesla saw a 9% drop in revenue year over year in the first quarter of 2025. The company brought in $19.3bn in revenue, well below Wall Street expectations of $21.45bn. The company reported an earnings per share of 27 cents, also well under investor expectations of 43 cents in earnings per share. Company sales plummeted in the first three months of the year. The company suffered a 13% drop in sales, making it the company’s worst quarter since 2022. Tesla closed the quarter with 336,681 vehicles delivered.
Despite missing Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom line, initial analyst reactions are optimistic given many had significantly lowered their expectations after the company reported a massive dip in vehicle deliveries.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
© Photograph: Noah Berger/AP
Jury finds newspaper not liable for allegedly defaming former Alaska governor in 2017 editorial about gun control
Sarah Palin on Tuesday lost in the retrial of her defamation case against the New York Times – a second defeat in the efforts by the former Republican vice-presidential candidate.
A federal jury in New York found the newspaper not liable for allegedly defaming Palin in a 2017 editorial about gun control.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
© Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Panel unanimously accepts charges against six more key allies of ex-president over alleged plan to keep him in office
A panel of Brazil’s supreme court justices has unanimously accepted criminal charges against six more key allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.
Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former rightwing leader to stand trial.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Marina Uezima/BRAZIL PHOTO PRESS/REX/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Marina Uezima/BRAZIL PHOTO PRESS/REX/Shutterstock
Process yielded seven-woman, five-man jury, more females than the group that convicted media mogul five years ago
Opening statements are set for Wednesday in the former movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial, this time with a majority-female jury deciding the landmark #MeToo case.
After a days-long selection process yielded a seven-woman, five-man jury and five alternate jurors by Monday, prosecutors and Weinstein’s lawyers finished choosing a sixth and final alternate on Tuesday. Alternates step in if a member of the main panel can’t see the trial through.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
Ex-congressman writes letter in bid for leniency and says seven-year sentence sought by prosecutors is too harsh
The disgraced former congressman George Santos is defending his recent social media remarks to a federal judge who will sentence him this week on several fraud charges.
In a letter before his Friday court appearance in New York, Santos, 36, said he was “profoundly sorry” for his crimes but believed a seven-year prison sentence was too harsh, AP reported.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Stefan Jeremiah/AP
© Photograph: Stefan Jeremiah/AP
David Lammy to host US and European negotiators for ceasefire talks in London amid encouraging speculation
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will host US and European negotiators for fresh talks about Ukraine on Wednesday amid speculation that Russia has told Washington it might be willing to drop its claim to parts of Ukraine it does not occupy.
The price would include the US making concessions to Moscow such as recognising the 2014 annexation of Crimea, though Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said no such proposal had been shared with him by the White House and that his country could not endorse it.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Julien de Rosa/Reuters
© Photograph: Julien de Rosa/Reuters
Kai’s popular content could nudge more young women and girls towards the MAGA movement, and the GOP more broadly
© YouTube/@kaitrump
During the incident in February a female protester – Teresa Borrenpohl – was pulled from her seat, wrestled to the ground and dragged out of a packed auditorium by the unidentified men
© Coeur D’Alene Press
2024 saw surge in antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate incidents, according to recent data
© AP
© PA Wire
Shocked staffers ‘liked that Bill didn’t bend the knee to Trump, [his lawsuit] settlement and corporate overlords who wanted him to apologize,’ a source told The Independent
© Getty
The company just reported its lowest revenue since Q3 2021
© AP
Wild chimpanzees have been pictured eating and sharing alcohol-infused fruit for the first time, which researchers say raises questions around whether the animals actively seek out alcohol.
© Anna Bowland/Cantanhez Chimpanzee Project/University of Exeter
Connexion