Farage not ready to be PM, Gove says in withering assessment of Reform

Michael Gove has given a withering assessment of Nigel Farage’s election chances, saying the Reform leader is not ready to be prime minister and – still won’t be in four years’ time.

The senior Tory, a cabinet minister for many years during the Conservative government, praised the former Ukip leader, saying he admired “his skills as a communicator”.

But he said: “I don’t believe that he is a plausible prime minister”.

He added: “Because if at this stage you’re saying that Reform should be the government – I know we’re four years away – he doesn’t have the team, or the policies or programme that would make me believe that he would govern effectively.”

Mr Farage declared his party as the main opposition to Labour in May, after it won 676 seats and overall control of 10 councils at the local elections, which also saw the Tories lose 15 councils and 674 seats.

But, in an upcoming interview with the Politics Inside Out podcast, with former Labour MPs Gloria de Piero and Jonathan Ashworth, Mr Gove said that Reform’s success was “not because they’ve developed a compelling story about how the country can be different”.

It was because “they’re the repository of anger at the failure of the political classes to do what they said they would do”.

He also revealed that Mr Farage had been “personally grateful” to him when he helped to resolve an issue between the then-Ukip leader and The Times newspaper, where Mr Gove was working at the time.

He insisted his feelings about Mr Farage were “very powerfully ambivalent” but he praised his skills as a communicator.

He said: “I think that he does have, which Boris [Johnson] had in a different way, an intuitive feel for how parts of the country think at any given time, and he is not burdened or constrained in the way that some of the rest of us are by thinking that’s unrespectable, or that’s outside the Overton window, or that would never work in government”.

He added that one “underplayed element” of the Reform leader, however, was that “he is, in effect, a bulwark against greater extremism”.

In a high-profile row with billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, who was earlier this year working in a specially created post as Donald Trump’s ‘first buddy’ in the White House, Mr Farage refused to endorse far-right activist Tommy Robinson, saying: “My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”

Last month, a leading pollster suggested that support for Reform had “topped out” and that the momentum that was leading the party to soar in the polls had ground to a halt.

Conservative peer Robert Hayward told The Independent that the results of recent council by-elections, which Reform lost while defending seats, and national polling figures, suggest that the march of Mr Farage to Downing Street at the next general election could be facing a setback.

Suicidal teen warned mental health hospital staff ‘slept on shifts’

A suicidal teenager revealed staff “slept on shifts” and said the scandal-hit mental health hospital she was being held in should be “shut down” in a note before her death, an inquest has heard.

Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, died on 14 February 2022, after she was left alone at Huntercombe Hospital, near Maidenhead in Berkshire, despite requiring constant one-to-one observation, Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court was told.

In the 15 minutes she was left alone, Ruth, who had an eating disorder, made her way to her room, where she self-harmed. She was found and resuscitated before being transferred to hospital, but died two days later from a brain injury.

In a note written before she died, which was read aloud to the inquest into her death on Tuesday, Ruth said there was a lack of therapy at the hospital, which she said had an “unsafe number of staff”.

It read: “I don’t really know who this is really directed to… Huntercombe, it doesn’t deserve a capital H.

“It is the s******t mental health institution you could get… the unsafe number of staff, how the place makes you worse, the staff literally sleep on their shifts. I don’t want this to happen to any other patients ever. My suggestion is, shut this place down.

On 7 February, days before her fatal self-harm incident on 12 February, Ruth was able to self-harm in a similar way, the court heard.

On Monday, the court heard the support worker responsible for monitoring Ruth was working under a false identity and had completed just a day or a day and a half of online training the day before his first shift at the children’s psychiatric hospital.

Evidence to the inquest also revealed that on the day of Ruth’s death, he was working on another ward in the hospital, but had been assigned to Ruth as the Thames Ward she was being cared for on was short-staffed.

According to evidence from Thames Valley police, the worker is thought to have entered the country under his real name, which police did not disclose, and later assumed his fake identity, Ebo Achempong.

Sergeant Francesa Keen, of Thames Valley Police, who investigated the care worker, told the inquest he had been employed at the trust through an agency called Platinum Care.

Sgt Keen confirmed a fake passport had been found at the home of another suspect as part of a fraud investigation launched after Ruth’s death.

According to Sgt Keen, the agency contacted referees provided by the care worker; however, it is not clear whether the referees gave a photo verification of him. The worker attended the agency’s office in person following his training and showed a passport.

The inquest previously heard the care worker “just left” Ruth after his shift ended, meaning she was left alone for 15 minutes during which time she was able to self-harm.

On Tuesday, the court heard that although he left Ruth alone, he was still on the premises when the ambulances arrived after other staff found her.

He returned to the hospital the next day to give a statement, but left the country for Ghana “never to be seen again”.

The Huntercombe Hospital in Maidenhead, also called Taplow Manor, closed in 2023 after joint investigations by The Independent and Sky News. It was part of a group, formerly run by The Huntercombe Group and now taken over by Active Care Group.

The inquest continues.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans in confidence on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.

For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beat’s helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040

Ozzy Osbourne’s cause of death revealed after rock legend’s funeral

Ozzy Osbourne’s official cause of death has been disclosed, a week after the heavy metal legend was laid to rest.

The Black Sabbath frontman, whose funeral involved a procession through his hometown of Birmingham, died aged 76 on 22 July – shortly after playing his final concert at Villa Park.

He suffered a string of health issues over the years, mostly related to neck injuries sustained in a 2003 quad-biking accident, which were later exacerbated by a fall in 2019. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease that same year, and also endured a bout of Covid.

The New York Times now reports that the rocker’s official death certificate lists his cause of death as “acute myocardial infarction” – typically meaning the death of tissue resulting from a failure of blood supply to an organ – and “out of hospital cardiac arrest”, or heart attack.

The certificate also listed coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction as “joint causes” of death.

Submitted by Osbourne’s daughter Aimée Osbourne, the document noted his occupation as “Songwriter, Performer and Rock Legend.”

On the day of the musician’s death, an air ambulance flew to his family home near the village of Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, the publication reports.

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Air Ambulance service said that its team had been “dispatched to provide advanced critical care at an incident near Chalfront St Giles on 22 July”, but gave no further details.

The Independent has contacted representatives of Osbourne’s estate for comment.

Thousands of fans lined the streets of Birmingham to bid a final farewell to the self-styled “Prince of Darkness”, whose band are widely credited with creating heavy metal.

The hearse carrying the musician made its way from his childhood home in Aston to Broad Street, pausing next to the Black Sabbath bench and bridge where his family were able to lay flowers and read some of the many tributes left by fans.

In one particularly emotional moment, his wife Sharon Osbourne, 72, wiped away tears before kissing her own flower and placing it beside a poster that read: “Birmingham will always love you.”

Despite his many health issues in later years, Osbourne remained active well into his seventies. He was reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates for their final album, 13, in 2013.

Meanwhile, he released a final solo album, 2022’s Patient Zero, with help from fellow stars including Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, and the late Jeff Beck and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. It went on to win the 2023 Grammy for Best Rock Album.

In his final years, the musician spoke often of his determination to get back on stage one last time.

His wish was granted at Villa Park, where he and the other founding members of Black Sabbath were joined by some of the biggest names in rock and metal, including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tom Morello, Tool and Alice in Chains.

“It’s so good to be on this f***ing stage, you have no idea”, Osbourne told the audience.

In a five-star review for The Independent, critic Mark Beaumont called the gig a “celebration of the delicious darkness Osbourne and his coven unleashed over five decades ago, and the behemoth it’s become”.

Why Musk’s $29bn Tesla payout is a blessing in disguise

It is commonly believed that Elon Musk owns the Tesla car company. He doesn’t. First, Musk only owns about 16 per cent of the company’s shares – even with the approximately $29bn (£22bn) additional share allocation he’s just received – so he is actually a minority shareholder.

Second, Tesla isn’t strictly a car company, even though it obviously makes them. It is principally a tech company, so its valuation and business model are radically different, and are based on its lead on autonomous (or self-driving) transportation.

Only recently, Tesla boasted that a customer in Austin, Texas, had their Model Y delivered to them directly from the assembly line, with the car driving itself for the half-hour trip. Tesla is built on self-driving technology, and that, in turn, is predicated on the continuing genius of Elon Reeve Musk.

So that explains a lot in respect of this headline-grabbing story about his “$29bn pay packet”. Such an outrageous package was proposed for, and by, Musk some years ago – but, given the objections of some shareholders, a court ruled it out. It actually amounted to some $50bn in 2018, but times change, and it seems as though Musk and his company have been devalued by his more recent adventures in Magaland.

In any case, a more ingenious method of turning capital into income was devised so that the richest person in the world could be just that little bit more loaded. Before the share deal, he was worth around $400bn, so he’s going to be a bit less than 10 per cent better off once the new shares have been sorted out. Enough to rub along.

This story, then, tells us a few things about Musk and Tesla. It certainly seems to be a further signal that he is moving away from politics and back to business. The Doge episode and the association with Donald Trump didn’t serve him, or his business interests, well.

Contrary to hopes/fears that having him hanging around the Oval Office and Mar-a-Lago as “First Buddy” would lead to some lucrative government contracts, now Trump is threatening to cut him off – which is especially bad news for SpaceX.

Musk has also gone a bit quiet about the “America Party” he has been planning in an effort to block Trump’s ruinous Budget by winning key seats in Congress in elections next year. Maybe Musk will press on with that, but it seems less likely he’ll do much more than provide lavish funding.

It’s just as well. The Doge project, for all the hype, is over, and it may have done more harm than good to the wellbeing of the American people (and, undeniably, the wider world) in destroying the US international aid agency.

The ill-advised salutes, the nutty tweets (as some of us still insist on calling them), and all the whooping about at the Trump rallies made Musk look more idiotic than evil, and were a grievous distraction. Not even he was able to help run the US, SpaceX, Tesla, and whatever else is going on simultaneously.

Musk was at risk of being the formerly richest man on Earth who overstretched himself and failed spectacularly in politics and in business. As the old Rolling Stones song – so popular at those Trump-Musk rallies – goes, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.

Tributes to ‘role model’ father who fell to his death at Oasis gig

A man who fell to his death during Oasis’s Saturday night gig at Wembley has been named as Lee Claydon.

The father from Bournemouth fell from the upper tier balcony of the London stadium during a sell-out concert by the Gallagher brothers.

Describing him as a “loving family man” who loved fishing and outdoor activities and a “role model” to his son, Lee’s brother Aaron Claydon said: “We will miss him so very much.”

Aaron paid tribute to his brother on a GoFundMe page set up to support Lee’s partner, Amanda, and their family.

In the post, he said Lee was “the man I have always looked up to” who “would have done anything for any of us”.

“Our family has been turned upside down and are struggling to deal with this devastation and unexpected loss,” Aaron wrote.

“Lee leaves behind his son, dad, partner, brothers, sisters, nephews and niece.

“Lee was a loving family man who was a role model to his son Harry and was loved so much by all his family. Lee would have done anything for any of us and he was taken from us far too soon and we will miss him so very much.

“Lee loved all outdoor activities, one of his favourite hobbies was fishing. He also loved music and his guitar. He also really enjoyed going to watch and support the boys and his nephew at their football games.

“Amanda and the boys have our full support at this very sad time, which is why we would love to be able to help them financially as well as emotionally.

“Please help us raise as much funds as we can to take one worry off Amanda and family right now as they are going through any family’s worst nightmare.”

Aaron also took to Facebook to pay tribute to his brother, writing: “Still in shock and cannot believe I am writing this, but sadly over the weekend I lost by best mate the man I looked up to and the man I was lucky enough to call my brother Lee Claydon.

“This is gonna be a tough long journey and I have set up this GoFundMe page to help and support his loved ones. Please read and share.

“Until we meet again Rkid.”

Lee’s cousins, Shannon Gabrielle and Richard Norris, also paid tribute to Lee on the social media platform and shared the fundraiser.

“Absolutely shocked and gutted to hear about our cousin Lee Claydon,” Mr Norris wrote, describing the incident as “heartbreaking beyond words”.

“Please consider supporting the fundraiser to help his loved ones during yet another incredibly difficult time,” he said.

Shannon Gabrielle wrote Lee had died “after no doubt having the time of his life at the Oasis concert this weekend”.

She added his death had “devastated the whole family” and said any donations would help support his “closest knit” relatives.

“You just don’t fathom you will go out for a night of amazing fun and not come home at the end of it,” she wrote.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said: “A man – aged in his 40s – was found with injuries consistent with a fall.

“He was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

“The stadium was busy and we believe it is likely a number of people witnessed the incident, or may knowingly or unknowingly have caught it on mobile phone video footage.

“If you have any information that could help us to confirm what happened, please call 101.”

The Gallagher brothers also said they had been left “shocked and saddened” by the news of the death following their show.

On Sunday, a spokesperson for Wembley said: “Last night, Wembley Stadium medics, the London Ambulance Service and the police attended to a concert-goer who was found with injuries consistent with a fall.

“Despite their efforts, the fan very sadly died. Our thoughts go out to his family, who have been informed and are being supported by specially trained police officers.

“The police have asked anyone who witnessed the incident to contact them.”

Putin ‘unlikely to bow’ to Trump’s sanction threat as ceasefire deadline looms

Vladimir Putin is unlikely to bow to a sanctions ultimatum expiring this Friday from Donald Trump, sources close to the Kremlin have said.

The US president has threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions and impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries that buy its oil, of which the biggest are China and India, unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire in Russia‘s war in Ukraine.

Putin’s goal is to fully capture the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia has claimed as its own, and then to talk about a peace agreement, a source told news agency Reuters.

The Russian leader does not want to anger Trump, and he realises that he may be spurning a chance to improve relations with Washington and the West, but his war goals take precedence, the sources said.

Moscow’s stated demands include a full Ukrainian withdrawal from the four regions and acceptance by Kyiv of neutral status and limits on the size of its military – demands rejected by Ukraine.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow on Wednesday in an attempt to convince Mr Putin to sign a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine.

Experts suggest unintended side effect of Ozempic – should we worry?

The use of weight-loss jabs in the UK has skyrocketed, with an estimated 1.5 million people using them.

Yet drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy don’t just help people lose fat, but potentially muscle too, new research has suggested.

A study that tested weight loss jabs on mice found that although muscle mass changes less than expected, muscles still get weaker and tissues like the liver also shrink.

Weight-loss injections, also known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by mimicking the natural hormone which regulates blood sugar, appetite and digestion.

The medications, known as semaglutides, predominantly treat diabetes but are also available on the NHS or via private providers to help adults with a high body mass index (BMI).

For example, although Ozempic is used for type 2 diabetes, it is sometimes prescribed off-label as a weight-loss drug.

The results of the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, revealed Ozempic-induced weight loss decreased muscle mass by about 10 per cent.

Most of this lost weight wasn’t from skeletal muscles, which surround bones and joints, but instead from other tissues like the liver, which shrank by nearly half.

However, because the Ozempic was tested on mice, researchers emphasise that more research is needed to determine whether similar changes to organ size occur in humans and whether those changes come with any risks.

“Loss of mass in metabolically active organs, such as the liver, is expected as part of healthy weight loss,” said Dr Ran Hee Choi, research instructor in nutrition and integrative physiology at the University of Utah college of health, and co-first author on the study.

In both mice and humans, weight gain and loss can affect the size of organs like the liver without affecting their function.

“It’s unlikely that the observed lean mass loss represents a serious adverse effect,” added Dr Takuya Karasawa, another co-first author on the study.

Researchers found some skeletal muscles did shrink by about 6 per cent as the mice lost weight, but not enough to explain the overall muscle loss.

However, when someone gains fat, they also tend to gain skeletal muscle. Study authors explain this is because the body needs to work harder to move around.

As a result, losing extra fat can lead to a loss of muscle, which will not affect the person’s overall quality of life.

Researchers also tested the amount of force the mice’s muscles exerted and found that some muscle strength decreased as the mice lost weight, even when the size of the muscle stayed roughly the same.

This potential loss of strength when taking Ozempic could be a particular concern for adults over the age of 60 who are at a higher risk of muscle loss and reduced mobility.

“The loss of physical function is a strong predictor of not just quality of life but longevity,” added Dr Katsu Funai, professor of nutrition at the University of Utah and the senior author on the study.

Dr Funai concluded that further clinical trials of weight loss jabs should check for changes in muscle strength.

A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, said: “In clinical trial for Wegovy or Ozempic we did not specifically study the medicine’s impact on muscle mass. In a sub-study of 140 patients with a BMI of 40 or less, analysis suggested that treatment with Wegovy was accompanied by reductions in both fat and lean body mass, with a greater reduction in fat mass than lean body mass.

“We recommend that any patients experiencing side effects while taking Wegovy or Ozempic contact their healthcare provider.”