The Sun Newspaper

DISGRACED ex-Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby yesterday said he forgives Church of England serial paedophile John Smyth.

Welby, 68, quit in November after a report criticised his handling of allegations about the Christian camp leader, who sexually assaulted 130 boys and young men.

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But questioned yesterday if he would personally be able to forgive the sex abuser if he were still alive today — Smyth died aged 77 in 2018 — he said: “Yes, I think if he was alive and I saw him.

“But it’s not, it’s not me he has abused.

“He’s abused the victims and survivors.

“So, whether I forgive or not is, to a large extent, irrelevant.”

Last year’s independent Makin Review ­suggested Smyth, whose abuse spanned five decades, could have been brought to justice while still alive back in 2013 had Mr Welby reported allegations to the police at that time.

Asked if he hoped to be able to get forgiveness from Smyth’s victims, Mr Welby told the BBC: “Obviously, but it’s not about me.

“When we talk about safeguarding, the centre of it is the victims and survivors.”

BRITAIN has a problem with ­foreign criminals escaping deportation due to Euro laws, the Home Secretary finally admitted yesterday.

After months of pressure, Yvette Cooper suggested ministers will review how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights — the right to family life — is applied in UK law.

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Ms Cooper told the BBC: “There have been some cases that do raise some real ­significant concerns, and that is also about the way in which the immigration asylum system operates.”

She said Labour is reviewing things “to make sure that the immigration asylum system works effectively in the way that Parliament meant it to”.

MPs across the political spectrum have called for ­Britain to quit the ECHR — or at least urgently reform it.

It has come amid a number of recent cases that have seen judges allowing foreign ­criminals to remain in the UK because they have a “right to a family life”.

This year an Albanian criminal was allowed to stay in Britain partly because his ten-year-old son does not like foreign chicken nuggets.

And a paedophile who attacked a teenage girl was allowed to stay because he is an alcoholic.

The Tories have vowed to abandon the ECHR if it ­continues to act against the national interest.

And Reform UK chief Nigel Farage has called for a referendum on exiting the agreement.

GIGGS has spoken about some of his musical heroes and said the British scene is in the best place it’s been for years.

As he posed for the cover of Something About Rocks magazine, out tomorrow, the Incredible Sauce rapper said: “Everyone influences me and I get influenced to this day by the new kids. Dave, Strandz, they inspire me.

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“[The UK rap scene] is always evolving. From the beginning to now: it’s gone crazy.

“Look at the likes of Central Cee, Stormzy – they’ve taken it to the highest of heights. All of them.”

Talking about how he inspired the scene, he joked that there were “loads of little Giggseys about now”, adding of his aspiring rapper son ML: “I think I’m more about giving my children knowledge to be great, more than materials.

“I just go to the studio and put on a beat and just rap whatever comes into my head.”

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MUM’S THE WORD

MOTHER’S Day saw every celebrity and their dog sharing favourite pictures of their mums online.

David Beckham was among the first to post, and paid tribute to Victoria, as well as his mum Sandra and Posh’s mother Jackie.

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Dua Lipa got in on the act with her mum too, along with Davina McCall, Emma Bunton and Holly Willoughby.

I got my lovely mother a box of her favourite Milk Tray, which she inhaled in two minutes flat.

Impressive work, Mum.

MAE IN A LATHER AT VID PAINT

MAE STEPHENS wasn’t quite feeling the glitz and glamour of the music industry on the set of her latest video.

She has just released the visuals for Woah Man!, in which she gets drenched in paint.

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But it proved a nightmare getting it all out.

Mae told me: “It was hands down the most enjoyable shoot I’ve ever had. It involves me getting covered in a lot of paint.

“After, I’m like, ‘OK how are we going to get this off?’ And none of us had thought that far ahead.

“We had no shampoo, no conditioner, so I had hand soap and a shower.

“I had to walk back through London with flecks of paint in my hair and carrying a big double-wrapped bin bag of my soaked clothes.”

That’s showbiz.

ALEX ON A HAT-TRICK

ALEX WARREN is hoping to make it a hat-trick on Friday as his single Ordinary is on course to be No1 for a third consecutive week.

As it stands, Ariana Grande is going to be the highest new entry, with her song Twilight Zone predicted to debut at No4, while Kylie Minogue and Alok are trying to break into the Top Ten with Last Night I Dreamt I Fell In Love.

If you fancy listening to some new music, try Bellah Mae’s Bad Day To Be My Ex, and Bradley Marshall’s Save My Heart if you’ve got a minute this week .

Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

CAMILA FLUNKS HOMEWORK

IT’S a good thing Camila Cabello is a great singer – because it turns out she is pants at most day-to-day tasks.

The Havana singer, who was 15 when she became a member of girl group Fifth Harmony, says she is useless around the house, and doesn’t often travel by rail like the rest of us.

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She said: “I’ve taken some trains. Not the subway. I won’t lie, I am in the black SUVs for Uber.”

Asked whether she does chores at home, she added: “I honestly do. I’m making myself sound like a douche galore with the no public transport, but I love to wash dishes.

“Actually, I won’t say I love to wash dishes. Now I’m lying. I really need to learn how to use a dishwasher. I don’t know how to use a dishwasher. But I do wash my own dishes.”

Then asked on the Smallzy’s Surgery podcast if she washes her own clothes, she said: “I don’t, I’ve got to say. I knew that was coming.

“I don’t do laundry. What else is there for chores? I can make food. I look up how to slice vegetables though for most vegetables.”

Bless her cotton socks.

GERI: I WANNABE PART OF FULL SPICE GIRLS REUNION

GERI HORNER has confirmed she wants a Spice Girls reunion to go ahead – despite a tricky relationship with Mel B.

I revealed last year that the pair had a frosty reunion at Posh’s 50th birthday party and the tensions were making another comeback rather awkward.

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But in a new interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Geri said: “My hope is we come back together as a collective. It’s more respectful to come as one.”

When asked if she meant all five of the Spice Girls, who last performed together at the Olympics in 2012, Geri added: “There will be something. We’ll come as one.”

Geri might struggle to find the time however, after revealing she’d struck a huge film deal for her kids’ books about the adventures of a girl called Rosie Frost.

She added: “The most famous producer in Hollywood has bought the rights.”

OUR much-loved astrologer Meg sadly died in 2023 but her column will be kept alive by her friend and protégé Maggie Innes.

Read on to see what’s written in the stars for you today. 

CAPRICORN

DEC 22 – JAN 20

🔵 Read our horoscopes live blog for the latest readings

You really need to feel you belong, even if you pretend otherwise. 

This is a week of accepting help, even asking for it – instead of pressing on alone.

Pride may have been useful in the past, but has no place in your future, which is criss-crossed with meaningful connections. 

Passion may use a lot of words, but if it’s actions you need, make this clear. 

The luck factor circles “D”.  

DESTINY DAYS: Check in on a quiet friend on Monday. Review work-life balance on Wednesday. 

Answer every part of a question on Friday.  

NEPTUNE VISION: What security means to you is in the star spotlight as Neptune takes up a new chart position until 2039.

You may realise you are just going through the motions in certain situations, and your deeper needs are not being met. 

Changing this may come at a cost, but can still be the right move.

CAPRICORN MUM: On this Mother’s Day, what kind of mum is Capricorn? Stable, trustworthy and honest, Capricorn is her family’s champion. 

Tell her anything, ask anything of her, and she will deliver, and no one works harder for everyone’s happiness. 

But she can be rigid and stuck in her ways. 

Best gift? A well-planned well-cooked meal.

Fabulous is the home of horoscopes, with weekly updates on what’s in store for your star sign as well as daily predictions.

You can also use our series of guides to find out everything from which star sign to hook up with for the steamiest sex to what it’s like to live your life totally by your horoscope.

SOMETIMES I’ll see a mother and daughter in a cafe and feel a stab of jealousy.

I’ve always had a tricky relationship with my mum, who left when I was 15 to live with her new partner, and after one particularly uncomfortable dinner in 2018, I stopped answering her calls.

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I didn’t see her again for more than six years.

Every time I wrote about it in my Fabulous column, I was surprised at how many messages I’d receive from people in similar positions.

In Britain, research by the charity Stand Alone has found that around one in five families – around 12 million people – are affected by estrangement, with many sharing their experiences of going “low contact” or “no contact” on TikTok and Reddit.

Celebrities aren’t immune either, with singer Matt Goss recently revealing he is “completely estranged” from his twin brother and former Bros bandmate Luke.

Jennifer Aniston is a high-profile case of family estrangement. The actress had a famously complicated relationship with her mother Nancy Dow, but patched things up before she passed away in 2016.

Meghan Markle is another celebrity estranged from family – it is believed she no longer has a relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.

Whitney Goodman, a family therapist who specialises in estrangement, says: “People are realising that family relationships can be harmful or abusive, and that they might need to get out of them in the same way they might need to leave any other kind of relationship.”

She says alienation from relatives can often be a result of physical or sexual abuse, addiction or mental health issues.

“Sometimes it’s because of a clash of religious, political or ethical beliefs.

“But the most common reasons are to do with emotions – people feeling their parents are emotionally immature or were emotionally neglectful.

“The parent will often say, ‘That wasn’t that big a deal,’ rather than apologising and accepting responsibility.

“For older generations, there is a sense that you must get along with your family at all costs, whereas Millennials and Gen Z want to raise the standards of all their relationships.

“We’re becoming much more aware of our mental health and widening our definition of trauma,” says Whitney.

Laura*, 38, an accountant from Leeds, has been estranged from her older brother since October 2022, and from her mum and dad since June 2023.

“I’d always told myself my family was close, but during the pandemic, cracks started appearing,” she says.

“My partner’s family would regularly check in with us, but my parents basically ignored me.

“I started having therapy and realised lots of things in my childhood were toxic.

‘My mother told me I was an accident’

“My mother said to me from an early age that my brother and I were accidents and told us to never have kids, so I never felt wanted or loved.

“Whenever I tried to talk to my dad about my mum, he ignored me and would do anything to appease her at my expense.

“When I tried to speak to my brother, he gaslit me and said he didn’t see it that way.”

Laura continues: “As I dug into my memories in therapy, I remembered that my brother had tried to sexually abuse me multiple times when I was 14.

“Although my brain has blocked a lot of it out, I get flashbacks of him touching me, and I have a very clear memory of my mum once walking in on him kissing me.

“I told her we were rehearsing a play, and she didn’t question it. I wanted to protect him and I didn’t really have the words to tell her what was going on.”

After confiding in her therapist and husband, Laura decided there was no point in confronting her family.

“My brother is so good at gaslighting me and making me feel stupid, and I knew my parents wouldn’t accept it.

“So I wrote a letter to my brother, saying:,‘I never want to hear from you again. I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll know why.’

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“With my parents, it felt harder, because it wasn’t this tangible thing they did. It was more emotional neglect and the things they didn’t do.

“I wrote them a letter saying, ‘I’ve had to use so many coping mechanisms to survive our family.’ They didn’t understand.

“My dad came over to my house and said, ‘What’s wrong with you then?’ while rolling his eyes.

“I exchanged a few more letters with my mother, but I realised she’d never have the capacity to self-reflect.”

‘My brother tried to sexually abuse me’

Laura says that severing ties with her family doesn’t feel like a choice.

“I don’t want to be estranged – but it’s too harmful not to be.

“To have effectively orphaned myself is really difficult. I have had to remove myself from the very people who should be my support network.

“I no longer have contact with my brother’s wife I was close to, and I’ve never met my two-year-old niece.

“I’m not concerned about my brother abusing them, as I feel like sibling abuse comes from a very specific place, and was such a product of our family dynamic – but if I told his wife about it, it would explode their whole world.

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“My mother’s sister – my aunt – no longer speaks to me, which is painful. I don’t know what the narrative is about me on that side of the family, but she’s clearly taken my parents’ side.

“I try to see my friends as family, but they have families of their own, so it can feel unbalanced. They are amazing, but I’m not their priority.”

Laura got married in 2023 with none of her family present, and says her husband understands why she’s not in touch with them, having witnessed some of their behaviour, such as her parents not asking any questions about their engagement.

“He was shocked at how disinterested they were in our lives, and respects my decision to cut ties.

“We’ve decided not to have children – I don’t want to repeat the cycle. I guess it also means that I did take my mother’s advice.”

Can estrangement ever cause more harm than good, though?

Psychotherapist Anna Mathur, author of The Uncomfortable Truth, says: “The cost is so huge – giving up ties to other family members, history, inheritance, support – that I think it really is the last resort.

“Of course, there will be people who use estrangement in a manipulative fashion or because they don’t have the skills to navigate a relationship, but I don’t think that’s a large number.”

Anna advises anyone thinking about cutting off a family member to try mediation with a therapist, or a neutral relative or friend first.

“It can be helpful to address the issues and give them a chance to respond,” she says.

“You might also consider writing a letter and setting out boundaries, for example, state that you’ll be civil at family engagements, but won’t meet up outside of that.

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“You may find you need to reassess your relationship as things change. Estrangement doesn’t have to be permanent.”

One of the most common responses after writing about my own estrangement was, What if your mum dies? That grim hypothetical question is the experience that Ella*, 37, a personal trainer from Swansea, is currently facing.

“My parents divorced when I was 10, and although I saw my dad on weekends, we were never close,” she says.

“He would make jibes about my weight and tell me I was a loser. It was done in a jokey tone, but it really hurt.

“I can only think he didn’t really know how to relate to me and used humour to cover that up.

“When I was 15, he moved to the US with his new family without saying goodbye. I went to his flat one day and it was empty. I was hurt, but it was typical of him to be so unreliable.”

For the next 20 years, Ella, who remains close to her mum, had sporadic contact with her dad as he came in and out of her life.

“I went to see him in the US, but had a horrible time, as I felt like he didn’t want me to be there. When he visited the UK, I would sometimes make the effort to see him, but I’d dread it.

“Eventually, in 2018, I realised he would never be the father I wanted, and I just stopped picking up the phone.

“Occasionally, he would text saying: ‘Are you still alive?’ and I wouldn’t reply.

“On the whole, I felt happier without him in my life, although I’m now single and I’m sure it’s made it hard for me to trust men.”

In September 2024, Ella’s dad, who still lives in the US, left a voicemail saying he had liver cancer and only had a few months to live. In shock, she called him back.

There’s also a deep sadness when I think of everything we’ve both missed out on

Kate Wills

“We didn’t talk about why I hadn’t spoken to him for so long. I think deep down we both know why,” she says.

“I’ve decided I want to be back in touch for this final chapter, and we are talking about me visiting him. I feel very sad, because despite everything, I don’t hate him.

“I had often feared him dying without me knowing, so in a strange way, I feel relieved that we will have closure.

“We now have fairly regular contact by text and he does seem to have changed and is more polite.

“I’m not expecting an apology, but I’d like to have a sense of leaving things on good terms.

“My mum has been incredibly supportive. This next chapter will be hard, but I know whatever happens, I’ll always have her.”

According to an Ohio State University study, the majority of estranged adult children eventually resume contact with their families. However, Laura can’t imagine ever doing so.

“A few months ago, I heard through my aunt that my dad had cancer and wanted me to get in touch,” she says. “I had a massive cry, but the next day I realised it didn’t change anything.

“I wouldn’t say I’m at peace with my decision – I still feel so sad about it – but I feel more positive and honest about my life now.”

Having my daughter, Blake, now four, made me think about my mother more than ever. Although it is still hard to understand her choices, I realise how difficult parenting – and life – can be.

When my father died in September, I was forced to see her at his funeral – and to confront the realisation that she will one day also be gone. This was the catalyst for us to start texting again.

We are taking things very slowly, and I have firm boundaries in place, such as only communicating through text. Although it feels hopeful, I’m cautious.

There’s also a deep sadness when I think of everything we’ve both missed out on.

There is no fairy-tale ending, but I’ll always be grateful that she gave me the space to live my life without her in it for a while.

My mother may never be the mother I want, and I can’t change the past, but at least I get to choose how I want her in my life. And for now, that feels like it’s enough.

*names have been changed

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FURIOUS Labour MPs yesterday vowed to rebel against benefits cuts as it emerged one in ten carers will be hit.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves faced uproar over estimates 150,000 looking after loved ones for free will lose handouts.

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It comes as one in four Brits now consider themselves disabled, according to a Government survey.

Labour MP Stella Creasey said: “The Chancellor is right the economic conditions have changed – I don’t support the welfare reform plans as a response and think there is an alternative course of action that can ensure fiscal stability and social justice.”

Fellow Labour MP Diane Abbott added: “This is a national scandal.

“A Labour government should have as its number one priority reducing poverty, not increasing it.

“I will be voting against these welfare cuts.”

Privately dozens more Labour backbenchers have expressed fury, including in private WhatsApp groups.

Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carer’s UK, warned thousand of carers are bracing to lose out.

She told the BBC: “Familes are shocked. They’re really worried.

“Some of them are looking at a double whammy of losing PIP and carer’s allowance.

“I’m talking about family and friends who have given up work…in order to care because they have no choice.”

TO Alison Krauss, her latest project is “like stepping into an old pair of shoes”.

The singer blessed with a sweet soprano has returned to the music that first got her noticed as a teenager — bluegrass.

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She describes it as her “calling”.

With fiddle in hand and THAT voice, she’s releasing her first album with virtuoso band Union Station since 2011’s Paper Airplane.

Called Arcadia, it evokes the simpler times of a bygone, pre-digital America while, on an emotional level, still managing to connect with us 21st-Century listeners.

You may know Krauss for her high-profile collaborations with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant but, as she proudly admits, bluegrass runs deepest in her veins.

That said, working with Plant, a freewheeling spirit if ever there was one, has had a profound effect on her latest endeavours.

“You can’t help but bring it with you,” she says. “Robert is a very inspiring person to be around. There’s only one of him.

“He never stops hearing and sharing music. He’s very much a collaborator.

“[In the studio], Robert likes to capture the moment and that hasn’t been the way I’ve recorded through the years. A lot of bluegrass people are sticklers for this and that!”

During the 14-year gap between Union Station albums, Krauss also released her solo album Windy City, a collection of classic songs by the likes of Brenda Lee and Willie Nelson.

But she has never lost touch with her roots — even if working with Union Station, the band she first recorded with aged 16, “feels like a wonderful homecoming”.

Speaking to me via video call from her home in Nashville, aka Music City, Krauss, 53, says: “I have a number of boxes behind my desk filled with cassettes and CDs — tunes I’ve collected over the last 40 years for when the time is right.”

Some, she reports, have ended up on Arcadia, a labour of love for her and the current incarnation of Union Station.

Back are long-time members Jerry Douglas (dobro, lap steel), Ron Block (banjo, guitar) and Barry Bales (bass), all considered best in class in the roots music world.

“With them, you know it will be great but it is always a surprise,” she says. “Jerry plays some melody and it is like he is standing on the edge of a cliff. You don’t know where he’ll go.” In a major development, however, Krauss has a new co-lead vocalist, Russell Moore, who has replaced Dan Tyminski.

Moore is the frontman of bluegrass outfit IIIrd Tyme Out and comes with a remarkable pedigree as the most awarded male singer in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Krauss is thrilled with the new arrival and says: “When Dan left to concentrate on his own group, I thought, ‘Well, there’s one guy’.”

She first saw Moore perform BEFORE she “knew any of the other guys”, when she was still in her teens and just beginning her own music journey.

Tragic tales

“I think it was ’85,” she says. “We were at the Kentucky Fried Chicken Bluegrass Festival and everybody was going crazy about Russell.

“He was 21, and I didn’t know who he was, but when he got up and sang, it was unbelievable.”

Such is her abiding admiration for Moore that Krauss has developed a new obsession.

She laughs before admitting: “Lately, just about every day, I’ve been going on YouTube and finding old clips of Russell. I’m watching him, thinking, ‘This is insane!’.”

When it came to suggesting Moore as Union Station’s latest recruit, Krauss was greeted with a resounding “Yes!” from the rest of the band, but she still wasn’t sure he’d accept the invitation.

She says: “Russell has his own thing going. When we tour, it’s six months away, but thankfully he agreed and everybody was so pleased. I remember Ron [Block] giggling like a little girl when he first saw Russell in the studio.

“He just stands there and sings with his hands in his pockets, and he kills it.”

Moore began by tackling Granite Mills, a traditional song which recounts a devastating 1874 fire in Fall River, Massachusetts, which killed 23 mill workers, many of them children.

“It was amazing to hear his voice on a tune like that,” says Krauss. “He’s from a different part of the country [Georgia] and you can hear those different pronunciations. When we’re on stage, I think people will be excited to hear his take on songs we’ve recorded through the years.”

With Krauss joining in on rousing fiddle, Granite Mills is just one example of how this group of like-minds is keeping the bluegrass flame burning.

For Krauss, it’s an important mission — with authenticity a top priority. If many of the songs on Arcadia are the work of contemporary songwriters, the arrangements are in keeping with tradition.

“My favourite thing is to find the songs,” she says. “It’s incredible to discover things you connect with.

“I don’t like to do anything that isn’t a truthful reflection of myself. You can tell someone else’s story but if it starts to feel fake, I don’t want to do it.”

During a tough time in history, he painted such idyllic lives to encourage people. Who wouldn’t want to live in those stories?

Alison Krauss

If keeping it real is the key, it also has to be said that many of the tracks on Arcadia are tragic tales.

“I’ve always been drawn to sad songs,” confesses Krauss, before drawing my attention to a particularly dark number called The Hangman, another featuring stirring lead vocals from Moore.

It is based on a poem written in 1951 by Maurice Ogden and tells the macabre story of a hangman who executes every citizen of a town, one by one.

Krauss was inspired by Renegade, the Seventies hit for hard rockers Styx, which has lyrics about an outlaw about to be hanged.

She says: “I’d always wished there was a bluegrass song with that theme so I typed ‘hangman’ into Google and this poem popped up. It was a magical moment for me.”

So what of the songs on which Krauss takes lead with a voice that has rarely sounded better?

One is traditional Civil War ballad Richmond On The James, the sad tale of a dying “soldier boy” who “lay gasping on the field”.

It reminds Krauss of how young the combatants were. “They were just innocent kids,” she says, “They had such passion, and they were excited to be of service and to be heroes.”

She well remembers what it was like recording the song: “That one was hard to get through — you get choked up and then you’re wasted for the day.

“You can’t even go back in and sing because your throat has clenched up from getting sad.”

Arcadia is bookended by songs written by Mississippi-raised, Nashville-based Jeremy Lister and sung by Krauss.

The opening track Looks Like The End Of The Road is, she says, “very much a beginning” while the closing There’s A Light Up Ahead “offers hope”.

Krauss explains: “Jeremy works for a publishing company here in Nashville and puts out music on a semi-regular basis.

“During Covid, I heard Looks Like The End Of The Road. Within the first half of the first verse, I thought, ‘Oh my God! That sounds like the start of our album’.

‘Out of my mind’

“Within days, I wrote to the guys and said, ‘Hey, I think we’re ready to roll’.”

Another captivating effort is The Wrong Way, one of two (with Forever) written by RL Castleman.

Krauss says: “RL doesn’t write with many people but he came over and played that to me. I was like, ‘Holy moly! RL is really going deep! He’s contemplating the meaning of life’.

“RL’s an incredible poet. He’s written so much of the stuff we’ve done.” Another key influence on Krauss were the paintings of Norman Rockwell, best known for his sentimental images of American life.

Though completed during World War Two, one of his best-known works is Freedom From Want, which depicts a clean-cut family enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner.

Krauss says: “He created a fantasy. During a tough time in history, he painted such idyllic lives to encourage people. Who wouldn’t want to live in those stories?

“Bluegrass songs are like that so I wanted to imitate that whole look,” she adds in reference to the cheery, retro-styled Arcadia cover photo of her and the band.

The mention of Rockwell takes Krauss back to her childhood. “My mom is a painter,” she says. “She would paint at night because it was quiet and she wouldn’t be interrupted.

“I remember the smell of turpentine.

“The things she painted were full of wonder but were quite intimidating to my brother and myself, just because they were so amazing.

“She had a Norman Rockwell book that we, as kids, looked through. I couldn’t believe they were paintings and she explained to me that he was just that great.”

Growing up in Champaign, Illinois, Krauss also became steeped in bluegrass history — its Appalachian roots and its trailblazers such as Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley.

It’s about recording American history, and where would we be without it?

Alison Krauss

“You had the coalminers and the farmers going out singing,” she says. “Early on, I got to have conversations with big names of this genre. It was so moving.”

Krauss recalls talking to Charlie Louvin, who with his brother Ira came to fame in the Fifties as The Louvin Brothers, singing country, bluegrass and gospel.

“Charlie told me the true stories behind some of his songs and I was just out of my mind.

“It was amazing to hear about his life. He’s gone now but the story of his mother will live with me for ever.

“He told me about a song called Mama’s Angels. As a child, he really did hear her in the living room praying when he was trying to go to sleep.”

Before we go our separate ways, I ask Krauss about her reunion with the founders of Rounder Records who first signed her when she was 14.

They’ve started a new label called Down The Road Records and it seemed like “the perfect fit” for Arcadia.

“I was thrilled,” says Krauss. “They’re real evangelists of folk and bluegrass and I love being where that is.

“We have similar feelings about this kind of music, what it means to remember America in a certain period of time.

“Ken Irwin was here. He was the one that I got to know as a kid and he was talking about all this stuff they did — like hitchhiking across the country and sleeping in cardboard boxes so he could go to the Grand Ole Opry.

“When I started out, Tony Rice, Boone Creek, Ralph Stanley, Larry Sparks and Rhonda Vincent were big influences on me. Most of them were on Rounder!

“Where would this music be now without Rounder Records being animals and getting it out to people?

“Years and years ago, they played me this hog-calling record. It was the sound of farmers calling their pigs back!

“It’s about recording American history, and where would we be without it?

“All traditional music is under threat,” she decides but, in 2025, Alison Krauss & Union Station are making a heroic stand.

ARCADIA

ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION

★★★★★

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Novocaine

(15), 110mins

★★★★★

IT would be easy to throw the “nepo baby” tag at Jack Quaid.

After all, his parents are Hollywood stars Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid.

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But sometimes you’ve got to accept that great genes can mean great talent.

Jack is the new everyman actor we need right now, never mind which way he got there.

Having recently impressed as the lead in the sci-fi movie Companion, he’s a full blown romantic action hero in Novocaine.

Blue-eyed, with his dad’s winning smile, Jack doesn’t just perform knockabout comedy, he does knock your teeth out, incinerate your hand comedy.

Jack plays Nate Caine who has a genetic disorder which means he can’t feel any pain.

The mild mannered assistant bank manager has tennis balls on sharp edges and pours hot coffee on to ice in order to reduce the risk of injury.

But when a trio of robbers dressed as Santa Claus take his girlfriend hostage after holding up the bank, Nate suddenly finds his inoculation to suffering proves to be useful.

Chasing down the kidnappers, it doesn’t matter how hard he’s punched he’s always able to come back for more.

This is laugh out loud “ouch, I bet that hurt” humour in the tradition of Buster Keaton, which includes nods to classic movies such as Home Alone and Die Hard.

There’s a brilliant you-know-what’s-coming sequence when Jack enters a bobby-trapped house and a homage to Bruce Willis’s famous shattered glass scene in one innovative take-down of a bad guy.

Jack, though, is more akin to Tom Hanks in that he plays the “regular guy” rather than the ripped hunk that is so popular in the movie industry these days.

I’ve also grown a bit tired of the wisecracking stars that populate too many films, so the self-deprecating Nate is a refreshing change.

It helps that the female lead Amber Midthunder, as the love interest Sherry, has genuine on screen chemistry.

Beyond the premise and some of the fresh ways to die, there isn’t too much original about Novocaine.

And you’ll need to be desensitised to blood and gore, because there’s a lot of that in Novocaine.

But if you want a laugh this weekend give this a shot, it won’t hurt.

A WORKING MAN

(15), 116mins

★★☆☆☆

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THE costume department for Jason Statham’s latest shoot ’em up movie must have been on overtime.

There are biker drug dealers with horns on their Nazi style helmets, a baddie called Dimi dressed like Austin Powers and two mobsters in the blingest shell suits you’ve ever seen.

The only one letting the side down is Mr Statham, who sticks to his standard grey dress sense.

But the gruff British star has never been one to change his act.

He is wise enough not to ever attempt an accent, unlike all his co-stars doing their worst Ruski “zon’t mez wiv me” impressions – with Jason Flemyng’s particularly bad.

This is essentially Taken with Rambo levels of violence.

Statham’s Levon Cade is an ex-British military man working on a US building site who accepts the task of saving his boss’s kidnapped daughter.

There’s a couple of inventive action scenes, but the skull cracking body count got a bit too much for me. I also gave up trying to follow the plot because everyone does the opposite of what makes sense.

A Working Man makes plausibility redundant.

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD

(15), 88mins

★★☆☆☆

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RAMONA and her two kids are having breakfast in their “fixer-upper” house when a woman covered in a black shawl turns up on their lawn.

Son Tay (Peyton Jackson) jokes that the mysterious visitor is “probably dead.”

Leaving the audience to work out whether the woman of the title is a ghost, some other supernatural being or a figment of the imagination.

On the way to this conclusion the truth about Ramona’s life, including why she uses crutches and what happened to her husband is revealed.

But getting to the end is a tiresome experience that even the talented Danielle Deadwyler can’t lift.

There were only so many times that director Jaume Collet-Serra could try to trick me into believing something was real when it wasn’t, before I couldn’t care less what was actually going on.

This psychological horror tries to be sophisticated, but relies too much on cliches such as the family thinking the creepy loft is a safe place.

Plus the woman in the yard isn’t particularly scary.

If I want to be creeped out by a strange person sitting in front of me, I can get that on the bus most days.

BRITS are braced for tax rises this year — as fears grow drivers will be hit by higher prices at the pumps.

It came as Rachel Reeves was warned that she might have to target pension pots and the wealthy in autumn to balance the books.

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An extension to the freeze on tax thresholds by two more years into the next decade could bring in £10billion, economists said.

And drivers were warned that all forecasts were based on the assumption fuel duty would rise.

The Chancellor yesterday stopped short of ruling out any punishing tax rises, saying such a move would be “grossly irresponsible”.

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Paul Johnson said: “There’s a good chance economic and fiscal forecasts will deteriorate between now and an autumn budget.

“If so, she’ll need to come back for more, likely meaning raising taxes further.”

Ms Reeves is sitting on a financial cushion of £10billion but this could be wiped out by Donald Trump’s tariff war.

She had to find £14billion of cuts in Whitehall and a welfare crackdown to retain that headroom in this week’s Spring Budget.

If fuel duty is frozen, about half her rainy day money will be wiped out.

She said fuel duty policies at the Budget were a “significant commitment” given the challenging position.

The Sun has helped maintain a 5p a litre discount since 2022 with its Keep It Down campaign.

Yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer did not explicitly rule out future rises, saying: “We’ve not taken the decision to increase tax. That indicates the mindset that we bring.”

THE death of footie boss Steve Bruce’s grandson was a tragic accident, cops have ruled.

Madison Smith was just four months old when found dead at home in October.

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The tot was the son of ex-Man United star Steve’s daughter Amy and her husband Matt Smith, who played for Fulham and Millwall.

After Madison’s death, a woman in her 40s, who was working as a nanny, was arrested on suspicion of child neglect.

But detectives have ruled it an accident and ended the investigation.

Greater Manchester Police said: “While the circumstances are tragic, we don’t believe any criminality was linked to this death.”

This week, Blackpool FC manager Bruce spoke for the first time about the heartbreaking loss, saying “there’s still not a day where it doesn’t affect you”.

He added: “It’s been the tragedy of all tragedies.

“Anyone going through the same sort of grief, I feel for them.

“It’s horrendous that a fine, young, healthy baby boy doesn’t wake up one morning.

“We’ll never come to terms with that. It’s agony.”

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RACHEL Reeves faces a Labour revolt as it emerged her benefits blitz will plunge 250,000, including 50,000 children, into poverty.

The effect of the Chancellor’s purge has stirred up dozens of Labour MPs who are threatening to vote against it.

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She has cut back harder after budgeting watchdogs rubbished her forecasts.

To plug a £1.6billion black hole, she froze the Universal Credit health top-up at £50 a week for new claimants and cut the standard rate rise to £106.

A total of 370,000 people will be losing their PIP payments, while 2.25million will have health support frozen.

More than 3million households will lose £1,720 a year on average, according to the Government’s own analysis.

In a clumsily worded justification, Treasury Minister Darren Jones likened the plans to stealing children’s pocket money.

Labour MP Debbie Abrahams said the reforms would worsen health.

Ms Reeves said she was confident her £1billion jobs support package would lift families out of poverty.

She said the 250,000 figure in the analysis was based on no one getting back to work.

ARTIFICIAL intelligence is ­everywhere – even taking on the ­terraces of our top football clubs.  

That’s because these images are all computer-generated ­likenesses of terrace stereotypes – based on the fans of a string of top clubs. It’s all the work of social media site Reimagine UK.  

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Their tech wizards get ’bots to scour thousands of fan pictures and descriptions of supporters to analyse the defining traits of each.

Then the site, which has tens of thousands of followers online, uploads the results, and no, they’re not real people – before you think you recognise that bloke from down the pub.  

The Newcastle entry is a nod to Toon legend Paul Gascoigne’s pal Jimmy “Five Bellies” Gardner, the Brighton bloke gets a seagull, and the West Ham man has an, er, food-stained shirt.  

Here, Mike Ridley reveals the full line-up so you can compare them to your footie-loving pals.  

West Ham  

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HAMMERS fans eat all the pies and spill gravy down their shirts, the bots would have you believe – and this gent looks like he’s had his fill of steak-and-kidneys.  

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THIS Blades bloke comes across as a cheerful chappie – and maybe rightly so, as they are looking like contenders for promotion to the Premier League.  

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WHAT’S with the constant selfies, lad? Maybe it’s to take his mind off the latest disappointing results, as his side languish downtable in the top flight.  

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LOVING the bling as much as the Blues’ megabucks players, is this fella.

But you have to wonder how he can afford it, given the price of tickets nowadays.  

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THIS one’s been to a hipster North London hair salon – and maybe that’s why AI reckons he’s too trendy to team his shirt with a red and white scarf.  

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OF course, it had to be – five bellies and two chins, in tribute to Gazza’s portly pal. But he looks pretty pleased. Maybe he fancies boozing in Europe next season?  

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THE topknot hunk with the shades and hipster beard is a big fan of the Seagulls and can often be seen with one perched on his shoulder. Like you do.  

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A SURFER dude beard, headband and neckerchief suggests someone feels like the cock of the north, merrily eyeing up promotion to the Prem.  

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AFTER crunching thousands of pictures of Reds fans, AI couldn’t come up with anything more upbeat than this – little surprise given this season’s calamities.  

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THEY may be at the wrong end of the Premier League but the proud bling, and philosophical face, suggest topping it way back in 2016 will never be forgotten.  

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KOP a load of this! There’s maybe a bit of a 1970s Paul McCartney hair thing going on here, in tribute to the Beatles legend. Love, love yourself, fella.  

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CITY are, for once, not bossing things – but AI has seen so many of their happy fans in recent years it reckons they are still smiling from ear to ear. 

TO the outside world, it may seem strange to carry on living with your ex when you can afford not to.

But that is what Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon is doing after The Sun exclusively revealed this week she has split from dancer Azuka Ononye, her partner of 18 years.

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The pair have made the decision to remain in the same house so they can co-parent their two daughters, Azura, 11, and five-year-old Anaya.

This is the same choice that TV host Paddy McGuinness and ex-wife Christine made when they broke up in 2022.

It is certainly an odd living arrangement — but it comes as little surprise to me after I witnessed first-hand how fiercely protective Alesha, 46, is of her family.

I met her at a star-studded hotel launch in CBeebies Land at Alton Towers theme park in 2017.

Having said hello earlier at breakfast, I asked for a picture of us all together for the review I was writing.

But I was left stunned when Alesha wrongly accused me of taking images of Azura, then three, on a ride, when I was in fact taking pictures of my own kids as they waited.

She stomped off as I was protesting my innocence and offering to hand over my mobile to put her fears at rest. Her partner Azuka looked red-faced and quickly apologised before running after her.

Of course, Alesha was more than entitled to turn down my request — the same as any parent — but it goes to show how she is like a lioness when it comes to guarding her kids.

I do not bear any grudge about her over-reaction, either. Like me, Alesha became a mum in her 30s, which comes with the maturity of realising that not everyone’s intentions are innocent in life.

And who can blame Alesha for putting her kids first, especially after her own trauma-filled childhood.

The former singer has long campaigned against domestic abuse after watching her mum Beverly being attacked by her violent partner after she split from Alesha’s dad Melvin when Alesha was four.

She said: “It was awful to see that happening to my mum, and there’s nothing worse as a child than not being able to protect the person you love most in the world.

“You go into the world fearless when you come from a loving, supportive, secure family environment. But if you come from a dysfunctional family where you see aggression, violence and upset, then as a child you are going to take on a lot of those feelings yourself.

“When it’s over, it’s almost like you have to stitch yourself up again.”

Alesha revealed the abuse in 2010 when she presented her BBC documentary Don’t Hit My Mum.

She said in the film: “When I was eight, my mum’s partner at the time started to emotionally and physically abuse her.

“She’d give my brother and I excuses for the bruises and black eyes and sometimes we would hear the arguments and fights from the stairs.

“As a child I often felt helpless in the knowledge my mum was being abused. To the outside world life went on as normal and we simply smiled, put a brave face on it and carried on.”

Alesha’s trauma means she has worked extra hard to give her own children stability, which is no doubt a major factor in her decision to carry on living with Azuka, 44.

The couple share a £1.5 million, three-bed house close to her home- town of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire.

The Sun exclusively reported this week how the couple decided to part after telling pals they had become more like friends than lovers.

A source told us: “They are still living together for the sake of their family and are co-parenting.”

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In November, Azuka was seen at the Lon- don premiere of movie Wicked with the couple’s oldest daughter, while Ale- sha stayed away.

She also appeared to be hiding her left hand in pictures and was spotted without her wedding band in a Britain’s Got Talent publicity shot in October.

Yet despite the pair’s problems, friends say Alesha is steadfastly determined to give her kids stability.

In a rare interview about her parenting in 2022, Alesha said: “If you choose to have children, you are their first introduction to the world.

“I make a very conscious effort that my daughters have a very loving, supportive home with two parents who are great role models. I feel a sense of responsibility.”

Psychologist Jo Hemmings says it is not unusual for those who have gone through trauma as kids to want to make things as happy as possible for their own children.

Who is Alesha Dixon’s ex partner Azuka Ononye?

ALESHA Dixon has split from her long-term partner and father to her kids, Azuka Ononye. Yet who is he?

Azuka Ononye was born December 14, 1980 and is best known for his work as a dancer, creator director and choreographer.

He has worked with the likes of Sade, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Duffy, Pixie Lott, Estelle, Ashanti and Cheryl to name a few.

Azuka’s advertising credits include major brands such as Guinness, Captain Morgan, Nokia, T-Mobile, Specsavers, Superdrug, ESPN, Sky, DFS and Argos and many more.

Alesha and Azuka got married in 2017 after meeting on tour.

The ceremony was a quiet and private.

They were married 11 years after first crossing paths in 2006.

Alesha’s team hired Azuka as a dancer for her tour.

She said: “Having grown up seeing her mum psychologically and physically abused, and yet not being able to protect her, Alesha seems to have a fierce determination that she’s going to give her children the opportunity to see what two loving, respectful parents can be like to live with, even if they may no longer be in love with each other.”

Alesha shot to fame with girl band Mis-Teeq in 2001 and the group enjoyed a series of hits including Scandalous and All I Want.

LIONESS MUM

She married So Solid Crew rapper MC Harvey in 2005. But their relationship exploded a year later when Harvey had a fling with singer Javine Hylton while they were starring in the West End musical Daddy Cool together.

They were caught when Javine’s ex, Karl Gordon, noticed Harvey’s car outside her home and alerted Alesha.

The Britain’s Got Talent judge later said she felt “lost and empty” when the marriage fell apart.

She told Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: “I didn’t eat for a few days. I just remember sitting on the floor in my house.

“I felt lost. I couldn’t find the words. You ask yourself these questions — Why? What had I done wrong?”

But Alesha put the heartache behind her to win Strictly in 2007 before being invited on to the judging panel — a move that opened the way for her role on Britain’s Got Talent.

Alesha is believed to have met Azuka when he worked as a backing dancer in 2006.

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They are notoriously private when it comes to their relationship but are said to have married in a secret ceremony in 2017.

Their new living arrangement is similar to that of Christine and Paddy, who share a seven-bedroom home in Cheshire with their 11-year-old twins Leo and Penelope and eight-year-old daughter Felicity, despite breaking up following 11 years of marriage.

However, Christine is now said to be desperate to sell their £6.5million property to make a clean break from Paddy after he made a joke about their relationship on tour.

He told an audience: “Tonight folks we’re all here as human beings with one common goal — and that’s to help me pay for my divorce.

“I’ve had the pants down, me, the pants down.”

The question is whether Alesha and Azuka, both still in their prime, can navigate any future relationships and still put family first.
Only time will tell.

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THE average price of a pint will spill over £5 for the first time next month — with pub chiefs blaming Labour’s tax raid.

Drinkers will pay an average £5.01, up 21p, as landlords pass on crippling new costs.

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The British Beer and Pub Association says pubs are being hit hard by changes taking effect in April from last year’s Budget.

These include a rise in the minimum wage, higher National Insurance bills for employers and a cut to business rates relief — slashing support from 75 per cent to 40 per cent.

The BBPA estimates they will cost the sector £650million, leaving many pubs with no choice but to raise prices.

Emma McClarkin, of the BBPA, said: “The cumulative impact of these taxes and regulations is now plain to see and it is highly unfortunate that the only way many pubs can remain viable is to pass on the array of upcoming costs to consumers.

“No one wants to see the cost of an average pint rise by a further 21p and break the £5 average pint barrier.

“It’s more urgent than ever that the Government looks at ways to cap or reduce the costs of business so we can keep pubs open and make sure the price of a pint remains affordable.”

The Sun’s Save Our Sups campaign is calling on ministers to throw a lifeline to boozers.

Tim Black, of Frontier Economics, said: “The sector is at the sharp end of a wave of changes.

“The cumulative impact will be significant.”

AN APPRENTICE candidate who walked away from the series has gone into business with a show rival in a snub to Lord Sugar.

Dr Jana Denzel left the BBC One show last month after sources told me he felt he had been “set up to fail” by production staff, hitting out that tasks had been “designed to make candidates look bad”.

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But stepping back from the show did not spell the end for the dentist thanks to a Dragons’ Den investor.

Steven Bartlett from the BBC’s rival business series, has backed Dr Jana, who owns a Harley Street clinic, to action the upscaled dental firm he had pitched to Lord Sugar.

A deal was struck just four weeks after his departure from The Apprentice, which was filmed last year.

A source told me: “Jana’s business has excelled since leaving the show after he was introduced to industry money-makers that backed the business plan Lord Sugar didn’t invest in.

“He was given help from Dragons’ Den’s Steven, who introduced him to his own commercial director, Danny Gray, to give Denstudios a boost fit for Jana’s Hollywood clientele.

“Danny got fully behind the business plan Jana had prepared for The Apprentice.

“It seems Jana will be proving Lord Sugar wrong.”

Lord Sugar previously admitted that, despite having respect for his telly rivals, including fellow business owners Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones, he could not say the same for Steven.

Asked about the investor and podcast host’s success, Lord Sugar said: “He’s a mystery to me.

“He’s a good talker, but comes across a bit suave and debonair.”

It comes after an insider told me last month how Jana took the decision to leave after being labelled “troublesome” for speaking out against filming rules.

The TV insider alleged: “Jana raised concerns about how unfair and staged the series felt, but he felt he was shrugged off.”

• The Apprentice continues on Thursday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

OH DEAR FRANK, NO LIONS

FRANK SKINNER says he was furious after the National Theatre failed to use his Three Lions song in their current stage show about football.

Dear England follows Gareth Southgate’s transformation of the men’s England team, but it fails to mention the famous Euro 1996 fans’ anthem, penned by Frank and his fellow Fantasy Football League comic David Baddiel.

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Frank recalled: “David said to me, ‘I don’t think you’ll be happy when you see [the show].

“They don’t play Three Lions,’” Frank told Josh Widdicombe on the Frank Off The Radio podcast.

“Maybe the National Theatre said it was jingoistic… to suggest that England is the home of football?

“Well, we can’t suggest that!”

MATT REVS UP FOR NEW ROLE

IT’S not just the pooches wearing a dog collar as Matthew Lewis steps into his latest TV role.

The star, best known for playing far-from-hunky Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, is a dishy clergyman in Channel 5 drama Murder Before Evensong, based on Rev Richard Coles’ best-selling book.

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And these first pictures confirm he will play shady vicar Canon Daniel Clement in the show, which is currently filming and due to air later in 2025.

I previously revealed that the crime novel, written by I’m A Celebrity star Richard, was being adapted into a mystery series.

The story follows Matthew’s character Daniel, who shares his rectory with his widowed mother and two dogs, after a body is found at the back of the church.

The unfortunate murder victim had been stabbed in the neck with secateurs.

Moving in on the sleepy village, the police find bodies piling up, as Daniel desperately tries to keep his frightened community together to help catch the killer.

Matthew previously said of his role: “I’m beyond thrilled to be throwing on the old dog collar.”

He will be joined on screen by Tamzin Outhwaite, Amanda Redman, Amit Shah, Adam James and Marion Bailey.

COLSON’S SOLD OUT ROVERS

CORONATION Street’s Rovers Return is being put up for sale.

Former show star Colson Smith accidentally let slip the spoiler in a post waving goodbye to his role as the soap’s Craig Tinker after 14 years on screen.

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Commemorating his final day on set, he clambered up on to the roof of the show’s pub, showing off a large “For Sale”.

The series currently films around a month and a half ahead of broadcast – and Colson’s post reveals that, in the coming weeks, landlady Jenny Bradley, played by Sally Ann Matthews, will be pushed towards selling The Rovers.

She had bought the pub using money stolen from stepdaughter Carla Connor ­– played by Alison King ­– but with her theft recently exposed, she’s been forced to pay her back.

Now it looks like she will be forced to put the Weatherfied watering hole up for sale and be replaced as the landlady.

AN INSIDE JOB FOR RYLANCE

WOLF Hall: The Mirror And The Light was one of the BBC’s most highly anticipated series last year after almost a decade off-screen.

But its director Peter Kosminsky has revealed that the six-parter almost didn’t make it to screens as filming outside was proving too expensive.

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The series, which stars Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis and, had outside scenes changed to “conversations in rooms” to cut spending.

Some props, locations and even cast members were axed just over a month before filming.

Peter said: “Many scenes were set outside involving horses and a joust – and we had to cut everything.

“That’s never happened to me before.”

Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.

OUR resident specialist and NHS GP, Dr Zoe Williams, shares her expert advice.

Today, Dr Zoe helps a reader who is suffering from a dry itchy scalp.

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Q: I’m a 64-year-old man and I have suffered from a dry itchy scalp for many years.

If I scratch my scalp, it pours off.

I’ve tried pretty much every dandruff shampoo including prescription stuff but nothing helps.

A: Dandruff is an extremely common problem and it may be that the pharmacist can point you in the direction of a treatment that you haven’t yet tried.

Anti-dandruff shampoos like selenium sulfide and antifungal shampoos like ketoconazole work best if you massage it into the scalp, then wait five-ten minutes before rinsing off.

If it is still persisting, and especially if there is any inflammation of the scalp, then you may have seborrhoeic dermatitis, which can be considered a more severe form of dandruff.

The inflammation may respond well to a mild steroid scalp treatment your GP can prescribe.

The cause of seborrhoeic dermatitis is still not fully understood. There tends to be higher amounts of a harmless yeast, called Malassezia, which is present on normal skin too.

Current thinking is that abnormalities in the skin barrier and increased sensitivity to oleic acid produced by Malassezia result in inflammation that causes seborrhoeic dermatitis.

But it’s also important to rule out other skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema too.

A HARD-left union chief with an interest in Soviet propaganda artwork made a £800,000 profit selling his home.

Matt Wrack, 62, is set to become head of the ­NASUWT teaching union.

He flogged the four-bedroom house for £1.17million in July last year.

That is a 234 per cent increase on its value, after he bought it for £350,000 in 2004.

In the property in Leyton, East London, Mr Wrack was known to keep a cut-out-and-keep collection book of Soviet propaganda posters.

He led the Fire Brigades Union for 20 years until he lost a re-election bid in January after the longest period of strike action in its history.

His defeat came amid allegations he spent too much time championing Palestine in relation to the Gaza conflict instead of fighting for firefighters.

He has since been tipped to take over at NASWUT, with his nomination for the role currently unchallenged.

He could earn £134,000 a year and drive a company car, despite having no background in education.

A source said of his deal: “This is the sort of home that the average teacher could only dream of owning.

“Very few of NASWUT’s members will ever be in a position to purchase a house like his — especially when he will earn so much more than the normal teacher or even headteacher.”

Mr Wrack had jointly owned the sold home with his partner. He was approached for comment on the sale.

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PLANS to carve up Ukraine are “being negotiated as we speak”, Donald Trump insisted yesterday.

He claimed a “full ceasefire” was imminent despite Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin rejecting a 30-day pause this week.

Moscow appears to have ramped-up attacks since Putin and Trump spoke in a phone call on Tuesday.

Putin agreed to a 30-day break in his army’s strikes on energy infrastructure.

But since then, Moscow blitzed Odesa when Czech President Petr Pavel was visiting and Ukraine accused Russia of carpet bombing its city Kropyvnytskyi.

Speaking last night, the US President said: “I believe we’re pretty soon going to have a full ceasefire. Then we’re gonna have a contract.

“The contract is being negotiated in terms of dividing up the lands, etcetera. It is being negotiated as we speak.”

It came as Ukraine accused Russia of launching a “false flag” attack on a gas metering station in Russia’s contested Kursk province.

Kyiv said the station “was repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves”.

Dramatic footage showed flames erupting on the site near Sudzha, where Ukraine’s frontline had collapsed earlier this month.

The pipeline had been used to send gas to Europe until Ukraine cut it off in December when the previous contract expired.

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THE daughter of Covid hero Capt Sir Tom Moore has sold just one copy a day of her new book.

Hannah Ingram-Moore’s tome about grief is at 130,000 in the Amazon sales charts.

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The 54-year-old released the £8.99 self-help book, called Grief: Public Face Private Loss, on ­Amazon this month.

But online sales calculator sites estimate she has only shifted between one and two copies a day.

Mrs Ingram-Moore lost her mother to a degenerative brain disease.

Her father Captain Tom died aged 100 in 2021.

His lockdown walks raised £38million for NHS charities.

But Mrs Ingram-Moore and her family pocketed £1.5million from a previous book deal and gave none to her father’s good cause.

A Charity Commission report said she and husband Colin had misled the public by benefitting personally.

Online reviewers have referred to that when posting their thoughts on the 144-page book.

One accused her of “parading her elderly father around for profit again”.

Another called it “another excuse to make money”.

And a third said she should stay out of the public eye and keep quiet”.

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MAKING new album Night Life, The Horrors faced serious setbacks – but it only made the band stronger and more excited about what’s yet to come.

Talking about the Southend group’s first album in eight years, singer Faris Badwan says: “There’s been a lot of challenges and difficulties, but we’ve come out with something really good, that we are really proud of.”

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Badwan and bassist Rhys Webb, now the core duo of the band, are chatting in their publicist’s office in North London.

Webb is yawning and enjoying an afternoon beer after an early start — “I had a fridge delivered at 7am so I’m feeling it now” — while Badwan is wafting a sample of a new woody perfume he has created.

“Being in The Horrors feels like we’ve been on a fantastic journey and this new album shows we’re in a good place,” says Webb.

After nearly 20 years of making music, and after starting Night Life, drummer Joe Spurgeon decided to leave the group to spend time with his family. While guitarist Josh Hayward appears on the record but in the background.

Badwan says: “When you hear about people leaving bands you think it’s a big, dramatic situation but it wasn’t like that for us. People naturally end up having a different focus in their lives.

“We’ve been friends for so long it was just two guys who wanted to do different things and that’s totally cool.”

Webb adds: “We’ve always had good personal relationships. Music’s not a reliable source of income and when Covid came, musicians had to look at how they were going to support themselves in other ways. And Joe is a father of an eight-year-old.

“And with Josh, he was always involved when the song was finished.”

Badwan adds: “That’s Josh’s strength. He’s less of a songwriter, but he’s an incredible sound creator. And he builds equipment.

“He built half our studio and invented different pedals, built guitars. He’s a one-of-a-kind type of musician, but not really a songwriter.

“And recognising your different skills and where you fit is important and one of the things I love about being in The Horrors.

“I wouldn’t do this on my own. It’s a collaborative effort, especially now we have introduced other people that have other skills.

“It feels like a really good place for the future.”

Badwan and Webb had written several songs for the album and knew they wanted to continue as The Horrors.

They worked as a duo with session musicians when they went to record it in LA, but then recruited collaborators Amelia Kidd and Jordan Cook later.

Webb explains: “We felt really strongly about the tracks we had been working on so there wasn’t any question of us not continuing to do that.”

Badwan adds: “Rhys had written a handful of demos that I really loved, like Lotus Eater and Silence That Remains, and I was really excited by them.

“I love the whole process of going from demos to finished tracks. And this was before Amelia or Jordan had joined the band.”

New keyboard player Kidd had been working with Badwan on her debut solo record when she started to contribute to The Horrors album.

Badwan explains: “Me and Rhys basically had the record written. It felt special and we felt excited to work on it.

Creative buzz

“We were trying to figure out what the extra ten per cent it needed was. And it was Amelia.

“She’s great with textures and you can hear it on Ariel and Silence That Remains. One feature of her style is the chopped-up rhythm and resampled sounds.

“We were used to working together and the three of us have a really good dynamic, a really good way of getting ideas together.

“When we went to LA to work with producer Yves Rothman, Amelia started to add additional production.”

New drummer Cook, formerly of Telegram, was also a friend.

“Telegram had toured with us a few times and I had played in various projects with him,” says Webb.

Badwan adds: “I find it really difficult to find drummers I like. But there wasn’t any question with Jordan and he’s been friends with us for years. He just came straight in, and fitted in.”

Both say their new members have given them a creative buzz.

“It’s definitely energising,” says Badwan. “We’ve become a different gang. And it feels like we have many options for where we can take stuff, which is fun.

“We have a bit more freedom to try different things which is good for us as we have a different idea every five seconds.”

The idea behind the album title, Night Life, came from the contrast of the nightlife of pubs and clubs to the world when everyone is asleep.

Webb says: “Night Life starts in the darkest of night. There’s an element of claustrophobia in the first half of the record. And as the album continues, it slightly elevates, and the mood lightens, and becomes more optimistic.”

That song, and When The Rhythm Breaks, came out of when I was pushed to that place when I had that sort of dissociative feeling

Faris Badwan

Badwan adds: “A big part of my world, my version of nightlife, is insomnia, which I’ve had since I was a kid. In places it’s maybe a dissociative or alienated feeling in the record.

“Silence That Remains is one of tracks that shows the strengths of all the individual members as well.

“It’s one of my favourite Horrors songs and is maybe a bit more understated than we’ve done in the past.

“My dad had a heart attack while I was writing the lyrics and I was walking around the streets I’d spent time in when I was a kid, waiting, as he was in a coma.

“It was tense. I was thinking about how relationships between people change throughout your life.

And the way you connect with people can kind of change over a number of years. I always want to lean into feelings like that when I’m writing, especially lyrics because it helps you make sense of it.

“That song, and When The Rhythm Breaks, came out of when I was pushed to that place when I had that sort of dissociative feeling.

“I was feeling a bit removed and isolated. It’s painful and intense but it’s authentic. And being authentic is who we are as a band.”

Badwan’s father, who is Palestinian, is now “doing OK,” says the singer. He adds: “He’s better. It took a while but he’s better. And you never want stuff like that to happen.

“But it’s also important to not be scared of those intense emotional parts of life either.

“I’m half Palestinian, and that’s a big part of who I am. That’s something that I think about a lot and read and learn about a lot.

“The more everyone learns what’s going on the better. You can’t be equipped to deal with it if you don’t learn about it.

“I get people’s need to switch off the news and disconnect from the world, but I think the more people know, the better.”

‘More freedom’

The Horrors have just embarked on a record store tour across the UK, playing a stripped-back set.

“We’re doing them as a three-piece, so we have got different arrangements and presentations of the songs,” says Badwan.

“We could never have done that as easily before but we have a bit more freedom to try different things.”

Webb adds: “We are looking forward to playing live as the shows last year were great.

It’s exciting to be releasing what is one of our favourite records that we’ve written

“We’re in a pretty fortunate position that we have six albums of material. So, we’re playing the songs that we really love.

“We’ve got a great back catalogue to draw from for live, which has been such an important part of our band and connecting with our audience.

“Last night we had a stripped-back rehearsal for the in-stores, and then the rest of the band turned up, and it was electrifying.”

Badwan says: “It’s an emotionally weighty record, and I feel that we did a good job at connecting the emotion behind the different songs.

“It’s probably more spacious than some of our other records, which I really like. I’m glad that we got better at expressing that.”

Webb agrees: “It’s an evolution of the group. It’s part of the journey of us exploring new ideas but always sounds like The Horrors.

“And for me, Night Life feels like classic Horrors.

“It’s exciting to be releasing what is one of our favourite records that we’ve written, with the additional energy of two new members which without a doubt is changing the live experience.

“It’s for the better.”

THE HORRORS

Night Life

★★★★☆

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