Tag Archives: Britain

As I mentioned on Facebook a few days ago, the overlords at Pride Magazine have rather abruptly decreed that I’m to go to London next week for a few days of “synergy and digital integration planning” with the team of sister publication, Pride Life.  This mean that I’ll miss NYC Pride for the first time since I’ve lived here (argh!) …

Via the Daily Mail: Kevin Spacey claims he feels like ‘an adopted son’ after being awarded an honorary knighthood for his services to culture and British theatre. The US star, who is finishing a 10-year run as artistic director at London’s Old Vic theatre, said he was ‘honored and humbled’ by the recognition and thanked Britons for supporting his work. …

Via the Independent: At least five people have fallen ill after drinking suspected “legal highs” at Parklife festival over the weekend. Four people have been discharged from North Manchester General Hospital but a 26-year-old woman is still being treated, police said. Her condition is not known. Greater Manchester Police said festival-goers had been drinking poppers, which are usually sniffed. Officers …

London Pride has banned LGBT members of Britain’s right-wing UKIP party from participating in this year’s parade. Via the Guardian: Ukip has been banned from one of Britain’s biggest gay pride parades in an apparent U-turn by organisers who say they are worried about the safety of participants. The inclusion of Ukip in the original lineup of the Pride in …

Via the Guardian: Tax freezes, the devolution of power and an EU referendum were all on the agenda as the Queen’s Speech marked the first day of the new parliamentary year. The speech was the Queen’s 64th and the first all Conservative Speech she has given in parliament since 1996, following the party’s majority election victory at the beginning of …

Via the Guardian: The Tory-supporting businessman Ivan Massow has launched his bid to become the next mayor of London with a candid YouTube video in which he introduces himself as “gay, ex-alcoholic and dyslexic”. Massow, 47, said the 70-second pop art-style animated video gave an “honest warts-and-all” portrayal of him. Brighton-born Massow has lived in the capital for 25 years …

Via the BBC: A mother has been found guilty of duping her former partner into thinking she had an abortion in order to give his child to her gay friend. A jury at Perth Sheriff Court found the woman and her male friend guilty of an elaborate fraud. The court heard the pair hatched a “cynical and calculated” plot to …

“Beginning around 1377, medieval England was shaken by a power struggle between two noble families, which spanned generations and involved a massive cast of characters, complex motives and shifting loyalties. Sound familiar? Alex Gendler illustrates how the historical conflict known as the Wars of the Roses served as the basis for much of the drama in Game of Thrones.” Some …

Via the Courier: A St Andrews-based all-male a cappella group who made their name with a video marking the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton are back with a new charity single. The Other Guys have recorded It’s Raining Men in support of Prostate Cancer UK. Musical director Andrew Pattie said: “We felt it was time for another …

Hot Chocolate vocalist Errol Brown, whose 1975 smash You Sexy Thing remains one of the most enduring hits of the disco era, died of liver cancer yesterday at his home in the Bahamas. His group landed 33 Top 40 hits in the UK, including three separate Top 10 appearances by You Sexy Thing in three different decades. Here in the …

Posted yesterday by the BBC: “Five weeks of talking is almost over. Seven parties have been grilled in the Live Lounge. Hundreds of young voters joined us for three debates across the UK. The general election is coming on Thursday 7th May. Who wins? You decide.”

Newborn Charlotte Elizabeth Diana is fourth in line to the British throne. The Los Angeles Times explains who all those other people are.

Via Talking Points Memo: “British Conservative Party candidate James Duddridge has learned the importance of proofreading. The Member of Parliament on Tuesday tweeted a photo of one of his campaign flyers, which contained a massive error. ‘It’s Erection Day!’ the leaflet read in blue, bold letters. The flyer was one crucial letter off, meant to urge conservative voters to turn …

Via the Daily Mail: A princess called Charlotte — a name that is French in origin — is a nod to her grandfather, the Prince of Wales, while Elizabeth and Diana are an obvious mark of respect to William’s 89-year-old grandmother and his late mother respectively. Royal aides told MailOnline that the baby’s second names were self-evident and would ‘speak …

The odds have been shifting hourly, but as of last night British bookmakers Ladbrokes were putting the chances at 10/1 that the new royal baby will be named for her late grandmother. Alice and Charlotte have been the favorites since the baby was born.

“From Academy Award winner Brian Helgeland comes the true story of the rise and fall of London’s most notorious gangsters, Reggie and Ron Kray, both portrayed by Tom Hardy in an amazing double performance. LEGEND is a classic crime thriller taking us into the secret history of the 1960s and the extraordinary events that secured the infamy of the Kray …

British anti-gay group Christian Concern has posted the below BBC interview in which Buzzfeed UK reporter Patrick Strudwick confronts an “ex-gay” proponent, telling him that they’d met while Strudwick was undercover and he is clearly “as gay as a goose and just can’t admit it.” RELATED: Five years ago I reported on Strudwick’s undercover work in Britain’s “ex-gay” network.

Britain’s Portswood Church has launched a rather bizarre Easter campaign on social media with the title “Because He Nailed It.” I thought this was a spoof when I first saw it.

Last month I reported that two British men convicted for murdering other gay men were to get married in a first for the prison system there. That ceremony took place on Saturday in a maximum security prison in Yorkshire. Mikhail Gallatinov, 40, and Marc Goodwin, 31, are serving life sentences in the same prison, both for violent and fatal hate …