The most dangerous battle facing Trump isn’t in Iran

It had the feel of two ageing dons sparring in the senior common room, both smugly full of self-admiration with their own cleverness. This was the encounter between two of MAGAs leading intellectual apostles: Senator Ted Cruz from Texas (Princeton University and Harvard Law) and one-time Fox News host, unrivalled leader in white grievance politics and influential beyond justification, Tucker Carlson.

There was an ‘en garde’ – and from there they parried and counter-parried in an interview broadcast this week. There was the occasional lunge as the two 50-somethings engaged in their dialectic on the wisdom or otherwise of Donald Trump allowing the US to become dragged into the Iran/Israel conflict.

It has been one of the articles of faith, one of the foundational beliefs of the MAGA movement that America should not be the world’s policeman – although the isolationist, pull-up-the-drawbridge, let the rest of the world get on with it school of thought is nothing new.

There’s always been that strand to American thought, even if Donald Trump is shouting it more loudly. There is also a more practical, realpolitik side to it in Trump’s mind. Put simply, what good did it ever do a president? LBJ felled by Vietnam; Bush 43 and his neocon Iraq misadventure; Biden and the calamitous Afghan withdrawal. In Trump’s mind nothing positive ever comes of it, so why go there in the first place.

For all the lofty words between messers Cruz and Carlson the row boils down to this. According to Carlson, if America First means anything it requires you staying out of other people’s wars. Meanwhile, Ted ‘yeah, but’ Cruz’s view was Iran is a menace, we like Israel, they are our ally and we have to be on their side – and the clincher: the mullahs in Tehran had earlier made clear they wanted to assassinate Trump, so America does have a dog in the fight.

It is a fault line that is running through MAGA. And where the president, who just celebrated his 79th birthday with a military parade in Washington, is seemingly treading tentatively. Leave aside the paradox of Trump wanting a military parade for an armed forces he never wants to use (except maybe for vanity parades through the centre of DC, or to deploy for civil protests in California), the acolytes are picking up their ideological swords and clashing with each other over whether to send a B-2 bomber from the US airbase at Diego Garcia armed with a MOP, a 30,000 pound ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator’ strapped to the undercarriage to bomb Iran’s nuclear site buried deep in the mountains.

Trump has said he will decide in the next two weeks if the US will get directly involved in supporting Israel’s attacks.

The most interesting intervention has come from the vice president, JD Vance, who is seen as an arch proponent of isolationism. Of course, he has to do the president’s bidding – but his was a carefully argued case on X (if anything be carefully litigated on X). His argument was that if Iran was only interested in civil nuclear power, why did it need to enhance uranium to the levels they were doing. And therefore if Iran got hold of a nuclear weapon, just think what a menace they would be to American interests in the Middle East.

Understandably, around the world the question of whether the US will get involved in attacking Iran is garnering all the headlines headlines – it could be the most consequential decision of Trump’s second term. But within the US there is another foundational argument about the core principles of MAGA roiling the populist right. And it’s over illegal immigration.

Go to more out less any restaurant in the US and you will find there are two classes of servers. There are the waiters and waitresses who will take your food order – and in Washington they are invariably college kids, and in New York out of work actors. And then there is the lower strata of plate clearers and water glass fillers. And they are more often than not Hispanic.

It is the same in garden work or road construction. Likewise hotels. And in the fruit basket of California – the central belt – almost all the fruit is picked by Latinos. A huge percentage of these workers are “illegals”, totally in the crosshairs of Trump’s promise to purge the US of this shadow workforce.

The problem is – just like over whether to bomb Iran – ideological purity is banging its head against practical politics. Trump this week told his immigration chief to ease off the gas when it comes to deporting hotel workers and those in the fields and those clearing the plates. Why? Because a lot of these industries would collapse without the plentiful supply of cheap immigrant labour. And Trump’s wealthy friends with hotel chains and big agriculture interests have told him so. Cue MAGA divisions over whether the president is going soft and betraying his promises.

All of which brings us to the president himself. The Iran decision is weighing heavily. He has given himself a two-week window to make his call. But to those who question his MAGA bona fides he more or less said this: I invented it, I decide what it means – and anyway my base loves me more than it ever did.

All of which could lead one to the uncomfortable conclusion, that the real battle for Trump is at home, not Iran.

Woman charged with murder of film director in missing Rolex case

A woman has been charged with murder after a film director was found stabbed to death in her north London home.

Nancy Pexton – of Gloucester Place, Westminster – was charged on Friday with the murder of Jennifer Abbott, who was found dead at her home in Mornington Place in Camden.

Pexton, aged 69, has been remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court later on Friday.

The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the late film director’s home at 6pm last Friday after being alerted to reports that a woman was unresponsive.

Abbott, aged 69, was found with stab wounds and later pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Detectives previously linked Abbott’s death to a Rolex watch which was allegedly missing from her home.

Originally from Arizona, Abbott had studied Arts and Sciences at Merton Technical College in southwest London before moving to Los Angeles to become a film producer.

Her LinkedIn states she was the chief executive of Atlantis Rising Productions, and has also authored several novels.

Photographs from her social media show her posing with a range of different celebrities, including socialite Paris Hilton and actress Kate Hudson.

A neighbour previously described the late 69-year-old as “mysterious, and very smart and intelligent”, telling the PA news agency: “I can’t believe we won’t see her walking [her] corgi any more. She was very exuberant, very vivacious.

“She had done a lot of things in her life. She was a doctor but she was also an actor and director in America. She’d directed a movie and I looked at it on YouTube and saw her interviewed in Los Angeles. She was a character. She was lovely.”

In a statement issued on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said: “A woman has been charged with murder following a death in Camden.

“Nancy Pexton, 69 … of Gloucester Place, Westminster was charged on Friday 20 June. She is remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court on Friday 20 June.

“Police were called by the London Ambulance Service at [6pm] on Friday 13 June to a report of an unresponsive woman at her home in Mornington Place, Camden.

“Officers attended and found a woman with stab injuries. She was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. She was identified as 69-year-old Jennifer Abbott.

“Her next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.”

BBC Breakfast editor takes extended leave after bullying allegations

The BBC has hired a consultant to conduct an internal review into the bullying and misconduct allegations that have been made against BBC Breakfast editor Richard Frediani, who is taking an extended leave from the role.

The broadcaster has confirmed that they’ve hired a HR adviser from consultancy firm PwC to help with their investigation into the working culture on the popular BBC One morning show.

Deadline reports that an internal investigation is being carried out into allegations of bullying and that employees have been asked to share their experiences, with Frediani reportedly at the centre of the controversy.

Accusations against Frediani, who joined the show in 2019, include swearing and shouting at colleagues and also becoming physical, with senior presenter Naga Munchetty amongst those who have raised concerns, according to sources close to the outlet.

Frediani, who also oversees News at One, has since taken an extended period of leave from the BBC following the allegations. He recently accepted a Bafta Award for the Breakfast Show after it won best TV news coverage for its special episode about the Post Office scandal.

Frediani has reportedly been the subject of at least two misconduct claims since 2019. One woman had her complaint upheld after claiming that Mr Frediani had physically shook her during a newsroom exchange in 2024.

In a BBC statement, released on Thursday (19 June), the broadcaster said that they would not comment on individual cases but takes “all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values”.

They added: “We have robust processes in place and would encourage any staff with concerns to raise them directly with us so they can be addressed.”

The Independent has approached Mr Frediani and Ms Munchetty for comment.

The accusations come just months after the BBC “drew a line in the sand” after publishing an independent workplace culture review which found that found some “well-known names” are “not being held to account for poor behaviour”.

The review, from Change Associates and led by management consultant Grahame Russell, was launched in the wake of the furore over disgraced former newsreader Huw Edwards.

The report said: “They are often in positions where power could be abused.

“Even though they are small in number, their behaviour creates large ripples which negatively impact the BBC’s culture and external reputation.”

The report said the BBC needs to set “clear expectations around behaviours” as it should be the “gold standard for the industry”.

“Some of those who exhibit unacceptable behaviour continue to thrive, and in some cases are promoted, whilst live investigations are ongoing, or grievances against them are upheld,” it said.

I was a scary Loaded mag editor before realising I was a trans woman

There was a moment around eight years ago that I’ll always remember. To most people, it wouldn’t have seemed like anything special. Perhaps it would even have gone unnoticed, or at least quickly forgotten. I’d been walking around Soho at the time, wearing some 5in, red block heels – these were serious heels (and I’m already 6ft 1in). I felt confident, womanly – finally, I felt like me. And I noticed a little boy spin around and, almost frozen in wonder, stare intently at me.

I had become used to staring since I transitioned eight years ago. Especially when I visit London, where I grew up, I tend to turn heads. Sometimes it’s people like the man in the street who didn’t want me to walk his way who notice me, or the mother at Oxford Circus who told her two kids to “get away from that freak” one afternoon. But then there are the stares like that one from a child in Soho. I recognised his curiosity – certainly I had felt it myself many years ago. “You might just have changed that boy’s life,” a friend with me at the time turned to me to say.

It had been a long journey to that point, so much of it inhabited by contradictions. Long before I was Kristen, I had been the production editor at 1990s lad mag, Loaded, where I was known as the “enforcer” – the tough one who kept the chaos on schedule. I was there to keep the pages running, keep everything going to get the magazine out while everything (and everyone) was unravelling. Including me.

I hadn’t always dreamt of being in magazines, but I did love writing and knew I wanted to be involved in some sort of publishing. I left university in 1989, having spent years living for the Hacienda in Manchester.

That was the start of it: the energy, the club culture, the music. My first job ended up being at The Big Issue, which was incredible, but also where my turbulence eventually got me kicked out – one afternoon, I turned up to interview Terry Christian so drunk from a lunch with the vendors that Christian called security because I was “scaring” him. Which wasn’t easy considering he was known as a very tough interviewer for The Word, a cult 1990s Channel 4 show, at the time. Still – fair enough.

Shortly afterwards, I got a call to say that a new magazine – Loaded – was about to launch. By then, I was deep in addiction, “across multiple platforms”, as I like to say. But James Brown, the editor, was so smart, so fast, so funny, so compelling that I knew this was the shot.

The staff were scared of me too – but I reckon one of the reasons why I was a reasonably efficient (or terrifying, depending on who you ask) production editor was because I was so suppressed. I did two weeks of hyper-focused work to get the magazine out every month – followed by two weeks of self-sabotage; partying, spiralling, blowing myself up completely. I don’t know how I managed to keep it going for 18 months.

Not only was it pure chaos – it felt like more or less everyone working there was having some sort of mental health or serious drug and alcohol issues – but I was also working in this hypermasculine environment, in the midst of this incredible dysphoric suppression.

People always remember Loaded for the testosterone, the bravado, the headlines and half-naked women. But I remember the women who wrote for us – Fiona Russell Powell, Miranda Sawyer, Jenny Éclair, Mary Anne Hobbs. They were whip-smart, witty, and subversive in the most brilliant ways. I didn’t know it then, but something in me was drawn to them. I didn’t yet have the language for why.

When I look back at those days – me, shouting at designers, running production, keeping the whole volatile machine on track – I realise I was holding something so tight inside, trying not to let it slip through the cracks. There’s a thing that happens when you transition. A friend of mine once described it as suddenly seeing your life in reverse – every moment lit up with new meaning, like stepping stones across a pond.

Really, it had always been there, even way back when I was 13, trying on my mum’s clothes. In later years, I would wear my ex-girlfriend’s leather trousers and boots and walk down Queensway in Nottingham at 2am, high and hoping to be seen – or, ultimately, to find a hot guy to sleep with. It was dangerous, desperate even. I felt alive, though.

In the 1990s, London still belonged to the outsiders. My friends and I lived in squats on the King’s Road. I remember dancing all night at a bar on Regent Street, where Prince once turned up and was told, “No VIP section here – this is a club.” It was where Pulp shot “Disco 2000”, a brilliant little place with multicoloured light-up tiles on the dancefloor. Back then, identity was something explored in motion, not worn as a hashtag. At places like Heaven or Subterania, queerness was ambient, fluid – it wasn’t the most interesting thing about someone, it was just there.

Contrast that with now, when everything’s got a filter and a definition, and the grassroots spots grown from alternative culture feel curated; it’s lost its spark, at least from where I’m standing. You can spend 15 minutes online and find out what’s trending at Colour Factory or the rave happening in Hackney Wick, what people are wearing (or not wearing). But it’s not spontaneous. It’s not born from a shared, lived risk.

I worry what it must be like now to be 14. I was wandering into Café de Paris in upturned cycling hats and rolled-up 501s, finding myself, not through algorithms, but by accident – by misfit energy, by music, by standing too close to a speaker at the wrong party.

That’s how it happened for us. But then, there’s another side to it – we didn’t have so many allies either, and certainly they weren’t so instantly accessible. Now, you can find someone like you whenever you need them, and that can be a powerful tool, too.

I didn’t find my people until much later in life. When I left Loaded in 1996, I was falling apart. I resigned with one line: “Right then, I’m off.” And I was. I imploded. I got a job at Total Sport, and didn’t turn up for seven weeks. Came back like nothing had happened. I was barely holding it together, teetering between addiction and unspoken dysphoria. By the time I was 30, I was really very unwell.

I went to a 12-step AA meeting, not long after that, and it was the first time I felt some real stability. I left publishing and started working as an international aid worker and photojournalist in central Asia before ending up in Australia. It was there, in Newtown in the Inner West, that I began to be surrounded by queer artists and subversives on a daily basis – and, for the first time in my life, things began to surface. I was no longer suppressing myself.

I felt at home but, even then, I didn’t know why. I’d had a very bumpy ride to get there. Imagine being on a plane with no seatbelt having escaped a war zone – I’d got out of Loaded, I’d been thrown up and down, and then had landed, somehow, in queer paradise. I began to reflect and see that all that masculine bravado had been armour I’d put around myself to try and feel safe. Turns out, it was powerfully claustrophobic.

When I look, I hardly recognise who I was. I’ve lived as Kristen since 2017, after a course of intense trauma therapy during which a therapist asked me if anyone had ever suggested I’m trans. As soon as I heard that five-letter word, I knew that was it. From that moment, everything started to fall away. I was working as a political adviser in addiction at the time and I walked into work the very next day, told my boss, and started dressing like myself: dresses, heels, the lot. There were inconveniences in terms of my workplace, my friends getting used to it – but I knew this was the truth.

Within three weeks, I was under a primary gender care specialist and since then I’ve been on HRT and had top surgery. And now I dress for joy.

I don’t regret Loaded. I don’t regret any of it. But now I can see it all for what it was – a holding pattern. A staging area. A place to hide before I knew how to be seen. I look back on all the years of clubbing in mad outfits, the horrendous “artistic” choices, and I know they were all necessary for me to find, not only my style, but my soul. All of those dark years, I felt I had no choice, but now I have freedom.

I’ve gone back to my love of writing, too – my play, Cruel Britannia: After Frankenstein, reimagines Mary Shelley’s novel through a lens of being transgender. It’s set in Thatcher’s Britain, in 1983, amid the tension between football hooliganism and club kids. It’s been a cathartic experience, and I hope it’s not just for me but for those who need it.

Perhaps like that little boy on Poland Street – I wonder if he remembers me. I hope he does. I hope one day that any little boys wondering if it’s OK to be different – to be themselves and be proud – can walk tall in red block heels, not giving a damn who stares.

As told to Zoë Beaty

Kristen’s play, ‘Cruel Britannia: After Frankenstein’, runs from 18-30 June at The Glitch, Waterloo. Tickets available now

What’s the secret to a truly stress-free holiday?

High-end cruising has entered a new era. Today’s luxury travellers aren’t looking for big flashy experiences. They want slow-paced, intimate travel and authentic cultural immersion. More than anything else, they’re looking for ease: that feeling of being genuinely cared for, safe in the knowledge that they’re experiencing the best of the best.

That means excellent quality food and drink, of course – it’s got to be restaurant standard and cater to all tastes – but also onboard enrichment experiences of the highest calibre. The great beauty of cruising has always been that not a second is wasted. Savvy travellers get to explore a rich and rewarding variety of exotic, off-the-beaten track locations, but instead of spending half their holiday stuck in motorway traffic, they’re honing their swing in the golf net, or sipping on a cocktail on the upper deck as they travel from destination to destination.

When they’re onshore they want genuinely immersive experiences that get them under the hood of a destination: think cellar tours of local vineyards or speedboat cruises to hidden beaches. Done right, a high-end all-inclusive cruise is the ideal form of slow travel, offering a perfect balance of adventure and indulgence, proper pampering and a thrilling sense of discovery.

The world’s most luxurious fleet

First among equals when it comes to the new era of luxury cruising is Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which offers more than 170 different itineraries visiting over 550 ports of call worldwide. Each of the six ships in their fleet is opulently appointed with beautifully designed communal areas and a huge array of amenities, but none of them has a capacity of more than 746 guests, ensuring space and freedom for all aboard.

The all-suite accommodation means that the private spaces are similarly roomy, each having a private balcony and marble bathroom. And service is always impeccable with a crew-to-guest ratio that’s nearly one-to-one, meaning that the team can always go that mile extra for all travellers.

Across the ships, the food is uniformly excellent. As well as Regent’s signature Compass Rose restaurant, with its daily changing menu of bistro classics like lobster bisque and New Zealand lamb chops, the different ships also feature a range of speciality dining venues. These include Prime 7, a New York-style steakhouse, Pacific Rim with its pan-Asian menu (be sure to try the miso black cod), and fine-dining destination, Chartreuse, where the chefs turn out sophisticated plates of upscale French cooking like Beef Tenderloin Rossini and Seared Foie Gras.

With a number of long cruises on their roster, Regent has made sure that each of its ships is akin to an ultra-luxury, boutique floating hotel with an incredible variety of things to do during the day and top-level entertainment at night. There are courts for paddle tennis and bocce, and the onboard spa offers a range of exclusive bespoke treatments. The ships host talks by experts in their field and cooking lessons are also available on some of the ships at the culinary arts kitchens where visiting chefs guide guests in how to make wow-factor dishes that relate to the ports of call. In the evening, the Constellation Theatre hosts lavishly staged productions from a team of Broadway choreographers and artists.

Destinations that match the onboard luxury

Of course, none of this onboard luxury would mean much if the destinations weren’t up to scratch, but Regent’s superbly curated itineraries are up there with the very best. Its week-long trips include culture-packed European tours like Glories of Iberia which sails from Barcelona to Lisbon, and thrilling frontier explorations such as the Great Alaskan Adventure from Whittier to Vancouver.

Longer trips include four-week Legendary Journeys from Athens to Montreal, and fully immersive explorations of the Arctic. Long or short, these itineraries are all underpinned by a commitment to taking guests right to the heart of a destination with the kind of bespoke onshore activities and expert-led insights that mean on a Regent Seven Seas Cruises voyage, adventure is guaranteed.

Visit Regent Seven Seas Cruises now to uncover the true meaning of luxury and start booking your ultimate stress-free getaway

Kremlin says Russia on the verge of recession

The Russian economy is “on the verge” of recession, the country’s economy minister has warned, as President Vladimir Putin prepared to address an event aimed at attracting international investment.

Maxim Reshetnikov told the St Petersburg economic forum that “current business sentiment and indicators” pointed towards an economic contraction, adding that “everything else depends on our decisions”.

He urged the central bank to support the economy when it comes to monetary policy as the Kremlin said that the current key interest rate – of 20% – was putting a break on the economy even though that was a conscious decision.

Mr Putin will deliver a speech about the situation in politics and economy at the event on Friday afternoon, according to state-run news agency TASS.

His comments came as one person died and 14 were left wounded after a Russian drone attack hit several high-rise apartment blocks in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Council tax could rise in richer areas to fund struggling authorities

Council tax bills across the UK could soon see a major shake-up as a new Labour plan looks to make funding ‘fairer.’

Led by deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, the plans will ensure more government funding goes to areas with the highest need.

The new approach looks to address issues in local authorities that are enforcing large council tax hikes every year while residents repeatedly see little return for this money. By making more central funds available to areas where demand is greatest, these areas will be more able to ask for lower council tax increases.

However, this will likely mean that less funding will be available to areas where local services are not stretched, and residents have not been asked to pay such steep bill rises in recent years. As such, these councils could be forced to recoup the funding from maximising council tax revenue.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) official told The Times that the current system has resulted in “perverse outcomes, where some authorities are struggling to provide basic services whilst others are better off”.

They add that the new approach would “ensure that government doesn’t reward places that have been able to keep council tax levels low due to having stronger tax bases”, and be “fairer to local authorities and their residents where they have had to take difficult decisions historically on council tax, often due to having weaker tax bases.”

About half of all council funding comes from central government, meaning the new method marks a major reform. The MHCLG has launched a consultation over the new measures to evaluate how the new funding allocations will be made.

This will include assessing the need of councils that provide adult social care, as well as looking at how to reform children’s social care and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) funding.

Nine in ten councils enforced the maximum possible council tax rise of 4.99 per cent in April, with six given permission to raise local rates even higher. These were Windsor and Maidenhead, Newham, Bradford, Birmingham, Somerset, and Trafford.

Minister for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE said: “We inherited a local government sector on its knees—councils pushed to the financial brink, facing rising demand, and working people not receiving the quality local services they rightly deserve.

“There’s broad agreement across council leaders, experts, and parliamentarians that the current funding model is broken and unfair. This government is stepping up to deliver the fairer system promised in the 2017 Fair Funding Review but never delivered.

“These reforms are urgently needed to put councils on a stable footing and ensure better services for residents — especially working people — right across the country. It’s a key part of our Plan for Change to deliver the outcomes people deserve.”

Cllr Pete Marland, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Economy and Resources Board, said: “An opaque funding system has weakened councils’ financial sustainability and vital public services, and we will be working through the details of this consultation.

“Different councils will have contrasting views on these proposals. Individual councils will need to know the implications and a transitional mechanism is crucial to avoid putting services at risk.”