The BBC is in a British Broadcasting Crisis – and only has itself to blame

The BBC is in a British Broadcasting Crisis. The UK’s public broadcaster has had a bruising few years, which have escalated, over the last few weeks, into seemingly non-stop scandal. It’s been lambasted by the political left and right alike, prompting calls for resignations from senior management, including that of the director general. And it has only itself to blame.

In late June, there was uproar over the BBC’s livestreaming of the Glastonbury set by punk duo Bob Vylan, who led a chant against the Israeli military. Then there was the bungling of its response – apologies, condemnations, hasty changes to protocol. One Gaza documentary was found to have breached editorial guidelines, with another, about doctors in Gaza, being pulled from transmission. Alongside this, there is the endlessly unfurling debacle that is MasterChef, which has culminated in both its presenters being fired – first Gregg Wallace, who is accused of unwanted groping, indecent exposure and suggestive comments towards his co-workers, and then, yesterday, his co-host John Torode, following an allegation that he used racist language.

Given the horror stories that have emerged from the set of MasterChef, it’s clear that both Wallace and Torode had to go. Less fathomable is the thought process behind the Beeb’s axing of Nadiya Hussain, who this week upbraided her former employer in a podcast interview. Hussain won The Great British Bake Off as an amateur baker in 2015, delivering an emotional speech that was watched by 14.5 million on the BBC. “I’m never going to put boundaries on myself again,” she said. “I’m never going to say, ‘I can’t do it.’ I can and I will.” But last month, following a decade-long partnership that has yielded cooking shows, food travelogues and a documentary about her anxiety disorder, the BBC abruptly announced it would be dropping Hussain from its schedules, in effect telling her: you can’t and you won’t.

After a lengthy silence, Hussain finally shared her thoughts yesterday on the We Need to Talk podcast, telling host Paul C Brunson: “The BBC [will] keep you until you’re of no use to them. The second you don’t fit the neat little box, there’ll be no space for you.” In a conversation spanning nearly two hours, Hussain was damning about her former employers, noting how she was “sold the dream” of a TV career and yet was “always made to feel my trophy was going to get taken away from me. I felt like I always had to be grateful … [But] gratitude should not sit on your face like a muzzle”.

Hussain’s comments might just be egg on the BBC’s face, compared to, say, the more troubling scandals surrounding MasterChef – but they nonetheless expose the company’s almost compulsive knack for shooting itself in the foot. Hussain is known for BBC shows including Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, Nadiya’s Asian Odyssey, Nadiya’s Everyday Baking and Nadiya’s Fast American Adventure, all of which showcased her singular warmth, charisma and often surprising recipes (such as fish finger lasagne). Note the mononym in those titles: right from the off, Hussain’s name was crucial to the brand. So too was her Muslim identity, at least as far as the BBC was concerned. At a time when diversity was a hot topic, and many were decrying the pale, stale males at the top of the BBC, here was a woman in a hijab who had won a show with the words “Great British” in the title. And she was a hit with viewers, with fans anointing themselves #Nadiyators on social media. Not for nothing did one TV reviewer call her “a gift to television and possibly the nation”.

Of course, a job for life is not a given in the broadcasting industry, especially in today’s climate, and nor should it be. A turnover of TV presenters is a good thing, allowing fresh talent to rise through the ranks. But, as recent scandals have shown, it can take some serious transgressions before the BBC agrees to part ways with its most bankable male stars. We may never know what Hussain was being paid to front her cooking shows though it’s fair to assume it was a drop in the ocean compared to, say, the annual £1.3m the BBC stumped up for Gary Lineker, the Match of the Day presenter who left under a cloud in May and whose final year there was blighted by one row after another. Or the £475,000 it was paying the now-disgraced newsreader Huw Edwards.

Chances are, the ever-popular Hussain won’t be gone from our screens for long; I’d put money on her already being in talks with other broadcasters. But her disgruntlement at how she was treated by the BBC underlines a growing perception of dysfunction and poor decision making right at the top of the corporation. Whatever the reason for Hussain’s exit, the optics have raised eyebrows, especially given the chef’s outspoken support of Palestine – which she also discussed on yesterday’s podcast.

Making matters worse is that this current run of scandals comes at a time of existential jeopardy for the BBC. An annual report revealed that a further 300,000 households have stopped paying the licence fee, a funding system that most now agree is unenforceable. Add to that the pressure from other, better-funded streaming services, plus the expiring charter in 2027, and the future of the UK’s national broadcaster looks ever more uncertain.

Just two months ago, the director general, Tim Davie, delivered an impassioned speech about trust – in each other, in information and in our institutions. It is “the glue that holds us together”, he said. It’s time for the BBC to get its house in order and win back that trust before it’s too late.

Fire engulfs main stage at Tomorrowland two days before festival

The main stage at Tomorrowland festival in Belgium has been “severely damaged” in a huge fire.

The annual festival in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, which is scheduled to start Friday, draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe.

Images shared on local news sites and social media showed flames and plumes of black smoke engulfing the stage and spreading to nearby woodland. Nearby residents had been urged to close all windows and doors until the fire was under control.

At least three-quarters of the spectacular stage is believed to have been damaged.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” the organisers posted on the event’s website.

“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident.”

The statement said the focus is now on “finding solutions” for the festival weekend. The cause of the fire was not given.

“We can announce that, DreamVille will open tomorrow as planned and will be ready for all DreamVille visitors,” they added.

“All Global Journey activities in Brussels and Antwerp will take place as planned. We are focused on finding solutions for the festival weekend.”

Dozens of emergency teams were seen rushing through the festival grounds just after 6pm in an attempt to extinguish the flames and evacuate those inside the grounds. There were no members of the public present at the time but around 1,000 staff members were working on site.

Some of the world’s most popular DJs were set to appear on the stage over the weekend, including Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Fisher, Swedish House Mafia and Steve Aoki.

Back in 2017, the festival had to evacuate over 22,000 people after a major fire erupted. The crowds at Barcelona’s Tomorrowland Unite were forced to flee just hours before Steve Aoki was due to headline he event.

Stella Creasy thanks passengers for intervening after she was ‘hassled’ on Tube

A Labour MP has thanked London Underground passengers for rushing to her defence as she was hassled by a man.

Stella Creasy was on the Victoria Line when she began to be harassed by the male passenger in an incident she is planning to report to the police.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Walthamstow MP said: “If you were one of the passengers on the victoria line just now who intervened to stop a man hassling me thank you from the bottom of my heart.

“Please get in touch with my office if you are prepared to be a witness as maybe the police might listen to you about him now!”

The Independent contacted Ms Creasy to ask for more details. TFL was contacted for comment.

Ms Creasy has been repeatedly targeted with abuse, lashing out last year at the crusade of harassment launched against her by anti-abortion activists, an issue on which she has campaigned.

In a moving interview with The Independent, Ms Creasy said she was facing “a bonfire of abuse” from anti-abortion ideologues on social media in punishment for campaigning on abortion rights.

And in 2013, a man was arrested after launching a torrent of violent abuse on social media at Ms Creasy.

Peter Nunn, a blogger from Bristol, was sentenced to 18 weeks imprisonment in September 2014 for sending messages to Ms Creasy calling her a witch and retweeting rape threats.

She and other feminist campaigners were harassed after expressing support for the image of author Jane Austen to be placed on a banknote.

After the incident, Ms Creasy was forced to have a panic button installed in her home.

Ms Creasy’s latest incident comes months after a cross-party inquiry warned that democracy is being undermined by the scale of abuse, threats and intimidation facing MPs.

A survey by the Speaker’s Conference revealed about half of MPs said threatening behaviour had caused anxiety or depression (49 per cent), with a similar share feeling unsafe as a result (52 per cent).

The inquiry concluded that electoral law is “not fit for purpose” in relation to tackling abuse of political candidates in elections and called for a Government review to assess security and electoral integrity.

This phase of the Conference was established in 2024 to help ensure that elections to Parliament are conducted freely and fairly, without threats or violence.

It also seeks to enable candidates to campaign safely and support elected representatives to do their job securely.

Commenting on the findings, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Commons Speaker and chairman of the Speaker’s Conference, said: “Participating in free and fair democratic processes – as a candidate or a Member of Parliament – is a privilege, and we expect that to come with robust political discourse and debate.

“But abuse, threats and intimidation should never be part of this job. It threatens the health of our democracy, and forces people to choose between the public good and their own safety and wellbeing.

“I am grateful to members, their staff and the witnesses we have heard from to date for sharing their experiences with us and look forward to working with colleagues on the next phase of the Conference’s work.”

Emma Watson banned from driving for six months after speeding

Harry Potter actor Emma Watson has been banned from driving for six months after being caught speeding.

Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the film franchise, drove 38mph in a 30mph zone in Oxford on the evening of 31 July 2024.

The 35-year-old, who is now a student, was made to pay a total of £1,044 at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Watson already had nine points on her licence before the speeding incident occurred, the court heard.

A driver can be banned, typically for a six-month period, if they accumulate 12 or more penalty points on their licence within three years.

Watson did not attend the five-minute hearing.

The actor rose to fame after playing Hermione, one of the titular character’s best friends, in all eight of the Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011.

As an adult, she had high-profile roles in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.

Watson later turned her attention to her studies and began a Master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Oxford in September 2023.

She later switched to a DPhil, which is the university’s version of a PhD.

Separately, Zoe Wanamaker, who starred alongside Watson in Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone – the first film in the series – was also banned from driving for six months during a hearing at the same court on Wednesday.

Wanamaker appeared in the 2001 film as Madam Hooch, the Quidditch instructor.

The court heard she was caught speeding on 7 August 2024 on the M4 in Newbury, Berkshire.

The 76-year-old drove her blue Volvo at 46mph in a 40mph limit, the court heard.

Wanamaker, who like Watson already had nine points on her licence, was also fined £1,044 and banned for six months.

She also did not attend the short hearing.

Isak and the difficult choice Newcastle must make

For Newcastle United, no news was good news. There was gossip, much of it tedious and tiresome, but no concrete developments when it came to Alexander Isak. They could reflect on Arsenal’s choice between Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko with some satisfaction: it is no secret that Isak has admirers at the Emirates Stadium but the Gunners accepted they could not get a forward who often scores against them.

The prospect, whether more of a possibility than a probability, of an offer from Liverpool would alter that. Any such bid would bring a decision that would define Newcastle’s summer; their season, too. For now, what can be said is that there has been no direct contact between the clubs. Newcastle’s stance has long been that Isak is not for sale, though Liverpool’s similar position when it comes to Luis Diaz has not stopped Bayern Munich from bidding for the Colombian.

What can also be assumed is that the fee would be colossal; Florian Wirtz’s status as Liverpool’s record signing may only last for a few weeks, while Andy Carroll’s as Newcastle’s record sale, which has stood since his 2011 move to Anfield, may finally be gone. Carroll cost a then British record £35m. Some would say Isak’s value is such that you should add a “1” in front of that.

There was some bemusement at St James’ Park a few months ago when £150m seemed the quoted number; Newcastle argued they had never put a price on their top scorer. Now there are mentions of £120m. Should anyone submit such a proposal, it ought to prompt a discussion.

For all Isak’s sleek brilliance, it could be a one-off opportunity to make such an amount. He has three years left on his contract; reach next summer and when he enters the last 24 months of his deal – presuming he does not renew in the meantime – the price could begin to go down. Newcastle had to sell frantically to avoid breaching PSR last year. They have fewer worries now, but a huge profit on a man who cost £63m, much of it since amortised, would end all concerns.

It would also facilitate a vast outlay. As it is, Newcastle have already bought Anthony Elanga for £52m this summer. Their pursuit of goalkeeper James Trafford has continued. They offered a club-record sum of £70m for Hugo Ekitike, which Eintracht Frankfurt declined. Sell Isak and, together with Newcastle’s existing budget, there would presumably be scope to afford Ekitike, for a raised bid, a back-up striker, Trafford and the right-sided centre-back that has long been on the agenda.

But there is a counterargument. Joao Pedro and Bryan Mbeumo are examples of players who spurned interest from Tyneside; there is no guarantee they will land their major targets. Meanwhile, selling Isak, even for Ekitike, would automatically bring a downgrade in attack; it would be hard to replicate the 25-year-old’s return of 21 and 23 goals in the last two Premier League campaigns.

For now, Newcastle are in the enviable position of owning one of the world’s best strikers. Isak may be still more coveted because some of the others are unobtainable, in Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. Others still are considerably older, in Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski. It helps, too, that without committing the rest of his career to Newcastle, he has not agitated to leave.

With Isak, and a formidably strong starting 11 – some of Newcastle’s business is about adding depth, whether Elanga immediately displaces Jacob Murphy or Trafford consigns Nick Pope to the bench – next season is shaping up as an opportunity. Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City represent the top tier of favourites, but it is not impossible to envisage a title challenge from Newcastle. With a match winner of the calibre of Isak, it is also very possible they would go further in the Champions League than without him. Or, having waited decades for a trophy, they could win two in as many years.

It is also pertinent that Newcastle’s rise has been built on continuity. Whereas Aston Villa, fellow gatecrashers of the Champions League party, had success with a revolving-door transfer policy, Newcastle kept their crown jewels, retaining players such as Bruno Guimaraes and Isak at the expense of making new signings. It suits Eddie Howe’s approach; there is a sense of a group of players with an affinity to each other and the cause.

The bid for Ekitike, who has certain similarities to Isak, added intrigue. The likelihood is they could play together, but it is easy to see the Frenchman as the Swede’s successor.

But not if Ekitike stays at Frankfurt or, as another on Liverpool’s radar, goes to Anfield, or Isak remains on Tyneside. Because, for now, much of it is still hypothetical. Liverpool rarely bid unless they are certain to get the player (Martin Zubimendi and Moises Caicedo are rare exceptions). They also have a sporting director, Richard Hughes, who worked closely with Howe at Bournemouth, so there are lines of communication if required. And if so, the test will be if the message stays the same, that Isak isn’t going anywhere.

When my friends were facing cancer, a community of people stepped up

When I was younger, I used to worry incessantly about my parents getting cancer. I’d lay awake at night, ruminating on what would happen to my brother and I if they did. Who would support us? Thankfully, both are still cancer-free, well into their seventies.

However, now that I’m a parent myself, I worry about my children. Many people believe that cancer only really happens to people in old age, but that’s just not true. One beloved friend’s daughter died of leukaemia in 2020, aged just five; an unthinkable horror that changed the lives of everyone who knew her and her family.

And with Macmillan Cancer Support reporting that almost 3.5 million people in the UK are living with cancer, I also worry about my friends – parents themselves, their lives touched by cancer. One friend sat me down in our favourite local café, our toddlers playing at our feet, to break the news that she was about to undergo a double mastectomy. We cried together.

Another friend, Sarah, a single parent to two teenage girls, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before we heard that King Charles had cancer, and a month before the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, announced her own diagnosis in March last year. It seemed like cancer was everywhere.

As a result, Sarah put 2024 on hold – she missed her daughter’s last sports day and last concert at primary school and had to find a whole new way of co-ordinating family life.

“I’m lucky in some ways that my children are teenagers, so they are able to look after themselves to some degree – but I’m also a single parent, so there are some things that they can’t do, or struggle with, due to their age,” she tells me.

“I have even set up multiple alarms on our Alexa reminding them to put their packed lunches in their bags or leave for school, just in case I can’t get up.”

Sarah says she thought she knew quite a lot about cancer prior to her diagnosis, but now admits she “really didn’t”. She explains: “There are so many terms and procedures to understand – stages and grades, not to mention over 100 different chemotherapy drugs.”

Sarah tells me about the exhausting cumulative effect of chemotherapy, which she endured every three weeks during her cancer treatment: “After the very first lot, I slept for a few hours and felt much better pretty quickly. For my last rounds, I slept for 48 hours solid and even days later, I needed to have a nap in the middle of the day and was in bed by 8pm.”

Sarah’s now finished chemotherapy and, a year on from her diagnosis, is turning 50. She’s throwing a huge party to celebrate not only the birthday milestone, but getting over this “annus horriblis” – a year she couldn’t have gotten through without the people around her.

“People can do so much for us when we are unwell – and I am forever grateful,” she says. “I’ve been really overwhelmed by the support that my friends have given me; from ferrying around my children to and from after-school events and sleepovers when things get bad, to my 75-year-old neighbour mowing the lawn. One friend popped round with a huge pot of pasta sauce and I even had a gift box from a recruiter at work.”

What talking to my strong, resilient friends about their cancer journeys has made me realise most, is the power of community: for when we receive the worst news imaginable, what we need is people around us to see us through. A community of other women: friends, school mums, neighbours.

They had people willing to make them food, pick up their children, go shopping for them or to just sit with them and listen. They had support when they decided to raise money for cancer support charities, when they did fundraisers such as hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning.

It takes a village to raise a child – and that village will be with you every step of the way when you need them most.

Find out how you can help raise vital funds by hosting a Macmillan Coffee Morning. Sign up now on the Macmillan website

Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604). Also operating in Northern Ireland.

Where might the UK’s fourth heatwave of the summer hit?

Hot spots in the east and southeast of England may record a heatwave in the coming days – potentially spelling the fourth this summer for some, forecasters are warning.

Days after the Met Office confirmed that extremes of temperature and rainfall are becoming the norm, experts say the mercury could show 28C or 29C in those regions on Thursday and Friday, and it will be humid.

At the weekend, record-breaking temperatures exceeded 30C in several parts of the country, as the third heatwave of 2025 swept the UK. A high of 33C was recorded in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales recorded their warmest days of the year so far.

Much of the UK enjoyed a brief reprieve from the hot weather on Tuesday, then on Wednesday temperatures started creeping up again into the high 20s Celsius.

Meteorologist Tom Morgan said: “From a technical point of view, there is the potential for some places to reach heatwave status.

“But it’s not going to be anything like the most recent heatwave, which saw temperatures reach the high 20s or low 30s.

“Currently, we’re expecting temperatures of 29C in southeast England on Thursday and Friday, then it might well be 28C or similar on Saturday.

“Most likely, it’s a few individual weather stations that reach the criteria for a heatwave… but that won’t be for everyone, it will be a small minority of places where there is a technical heatwave.”

Definitions of a heatwave vary by county. Weather counts as a heatwave when a place has at least three days in a row when temperatures meet or exceed the heatwave temperature threshold for that place.

In areas from Cambridgeshire to West Berkshire to Surrey, the threshold is 29C. In much of northern England, Scotland and Wales, it’s 25C.

As records continue to be set this year, England had its warmest ever June, and the UK overall experienced its second-warmest since the series began in 1884, according to provisional Met Office statistics.

Forecasters say the rest of July and early August are likely to be changeable. But towards mid-August, there are tentative signs that high pressure may become more dominant, the Met Office says, which would bring more dry, settled weather.

“Temperatures are expected to continue to run above average overall, with a greater likelihood, compared to the preceding couple of weeks, of very warm or hot spells to develop by mid-August, especially further south and east.”

After the UK’s driest spring since 1893, nearly seven million people are facing hosepipe bans.

The Southern Water restrictions affecting Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will begin on Monday, while Thames Water announced a ban that will begin on Tuesday for customers in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, most of Wiltshire and some parts of Berkshire.

South East Water has also said 1.4 million customers in Kent and Sussex will also be banned from using hosepipes.

The first ban, across Yorkshire, came into effect on Friday after a “drought” was declared in the region.

The Environment Agency has warned that without substantial rain, more bans will follow.

The West and East Midlands have been declared as suffering from drought, as have Cumbria and Lancashire, Yorkshire and Greater Manchester, and Merseyside and Cheshire.

Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, East Anglia and the Thames areas have been designated as in “prolonged dry weather” status.

However, in the west of England on Thursday, forecasters say there will be outbreaks of rain, some of them intense, and thundery downpours are possible.

What does rising inflation mean for interest rates – and the Budget?

Inflation is up again – prices are 3.6 per cent higher than a year ago, worse than the forecast 3.4 per cent – while the economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in May.

This news isn’t helping the government build a reputation for economic competence, and it adds to a rather depressing backdrop to the next Budget in late October, widely expected to be another with substantial tax rises. As we all know, elections tend to be won or lost on the economy.

Why is inflation up?

Partly for technical reasons related to how the consumer price index works: fuel and energy prices fell substantially around this time last year, pushing inflation down to the 2 per cent official target; and while they’re not rising much now, there is that arithmetic effect.

More substantially, and worryingly for ministers and the Bank of England, the figures suggest that core (or underlying) inflation – much of it attached to growth in wages – remains too strong for the Bank to be confident about trend inflation coming down markedly. That means an even slower downward path for interest rates.

For the chancellor, it seems some but not all of the increase in employers’ national insurance that came into force in April is being passed on in price rises, the rest being met by lower wage settlements and pruning of profit margins. The minimum wage increase has also increased labour costs. These have certainly given the opposition some ammunition.

As the governor, Andrew Bailey, sometimes remarks, the last yards of this marathon race to get inflation down are the hardest.

What will happen to interest rates?

It’s nuanced. The consensus seems to be that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will cut rates at its meeting next month by another 0.25 percentage points, to 4 per cent – which the government would greet with enormous relief. Inflation trends aren’t bad enough to warrant postponing such a cut, which would in any case surprise and disappoint the City. However, inflation is still “sticky” and stubborn enough to mean that future cuts will be glacially slow in arriving. So mortgage holders and businesses won’t be as well off as they might be or as previously hoped.

Are these figures politically significant?

One month’s data rarely is, but Kemi Badenoch made the most of the mildly bad news at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling the prime minister that Britain now has the fastest rising prices among the G7 major economies. Aside from the prospective cut in interest rates in a few weeks, the short-term outlook is gloomy and that feeds through to the opinion polls.

The cost of living crisis is still on, and the next Budget will probably make things tougher for the middle classes. Labour’s rhetoric about “working people” and the chancellor’s boasts about putting more money in people’s pockets carry a little less credibility when inflation is poised to exceed four per cent later in the year and she seems so keen on cutting social security. More than that, there seems little short-term prospect of an improvement in the public finances or the wider economy. Heavy losses for Labour in next year’s local government, Scottish and Welsh elections look certain.

Are we in stagflation?

Arguable. It’s true that a variety of long-term factors, including Brexit and labour shortages, have conspired to reduce the ability of the UK economy to grow strongly without triggering inflationary pressures, especially in the labour market (which is why forthcoming jobs data will be closely examined by the Bank). However, inflation should gradually trend lower over the medium term, even if the prospects for growth will remain mixed – Trump’s tariffs being a major risk factor, notwithstanding the recent US-UK deal.

Reeves’ programme of structural reforms – planning, financial deregulation, air and rail projects, housing – will take years to make much impression on growth. By then some other party might well be in power to reap the dividends of her investments, but who ever thought politics was fair?