
No Writer
Jun 23
Former River City actor Iain Robertson found guilty of rape
The 45-year-old was convicted of a total of five offences against a number of women between 2004 and 2019. The rape occurred some time between 2018 and 2019. During the trial, the woman told the court Robertson had had sex with her despite her making it clear she was not consenting, and described going "limp" when he was on top of her. Giving evidence during the trial, Robertson said he was "no angel" but denied any wrongdoing. He said he was "aware" of when a woman is consenting, and that he is "sensitive" enough to know about non-verbal communication. However, the jury found him guilty of rape, along with four other charges. Robertson is due to be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on 23 July.

No Writer
Jun 23
Artwork blaming Churchill for mass starvation taken down from National Portrait Gallery
Turner Prize winner Helen Cammock's 40-minute video work titled Persistence made a reference to "the wilful starvation of the Indian population by Winston Churchill". In the work, narrated by Cammock, she examined Oliver Cromwell's 17th century military campaigns in Ireland, and said he had "starved people, en masse", which was "a little like" Churchill in the Bengal famine. The artwork prompted Churchill biographer Lord Andrew Roberts to pen an open letter - signed by more than 50 peers including Churchill's grandson Sir Nicholas Soames - refuting the claims. Other signatories include Michael Grade and Zac Goldsmith. Three million people in east India have been estimated to have died in the Bengal famine of 1943. Churchill's policies as prime minister at the time have been criticised by some for exacerbating the situation. Lord Roberts of Belgravia argued the installation's description of Churchill was a "bare-faced lie" and "ideologically motivated rant" that "denigrated" the war-time prime minister. "The Bengal famine was an unimaginable tragedy and disaster, but the accusation that it was deliberately visited upon the Bengalis by Churchill is foul and vile," he said. "It is also historically ludicrous, as every serious historian of the period attests." Lord Roberts said the Bengal famine was caused by a typhoon and that Churchill told his war cabinet every effort must be made to help those affected and asked international leaders to send in grain. Following the backlash, Cammock said she made the decision to "withdraw" the work from the gallery. "There is an incredible pressure on artists and arts institutions to bend to external pressure; to be benign at best and silent at worst. I do not accept this pressure," she said. "To question, challenge and explore ideas and histories is vital to a healthy society and art is intrinsic to this. "For me, art is about dialogue, it is about a questioning of existence through the transformation and translation of thoughts and ideas. "It asks us to think, to feel, to react - and we must take responsibility for our own reactions to it." Read more from Sky News:Note claims Nancy Guthrie died after her 'kidnap'Legendary music mogul Clive Davis dies aged 94 She said her work "asks us to think about who is honoured and valorised and who is not; whose stories are told and whose are not". She added: "Persistence will have its own life after this: it won't hide and it won't be afraid to speak with those who are prepared to sit with it and listen - not agree or submit to it - but to hear it out, consider its points and make their own minds up." In a statement, the gallery said: "Helen Cammock has decided to remove her film, Persistence, from display at the National Portrait Gallery. "We respect her decision, just as we acknowledge the opinions of those who were offended by what was said in the film." The gallery added: "The aim of this project was to give artists the opportunity to create works as personal and creative responses to our collection. The work was presented as an artistic piece, not a documentary, and the views expressed in the film do not necessarily reflect those of the NPG." Lord Roberts said Cammock "should be commended for doing the honourable thing and putting historical truth over her artistic licence".

No Writer
Jun 21
Jeremy Clarkson reveals 'aggressive' prostate cancer is in remission
The 66-year-old confirmed in an interview with The Times that a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test two months ago revealed no sign of the disease. Clarkson revealed in the latest episodes of the fifth season of Clarkson's Farm that he had been diagnosed with "aggressive" prostate cancer that had been found early. The TV host has met up with former prime minister Lord David Cameron to talk about their prostate cancer diagnoses with other famous faces. He said: "I was talking to David (Cameron) about it earlier this morning. He said the amount of people that come up to him is mostly in public conveniences and say, if you hadn't owned up to it, I wouldn't have got checked, and they wouldn't have found it. "So now there's a group of us, (food writer) Giles Coren, David, me, one or two other people, and we meet for lunch every so often. "Everybody has different Gleason scores, and everybody has different Stockholm and PSA scores. We all compare notes and I actually get muddled with what mine were." Clarkson said the diagnosis had "landed harder than I thought it would". He added: "This is why I have to say to everybody who's reading this, please, please, please go and get checked. "It's not uncomfortable, it's not undignified, and it's a no-brainer. I did, and that's why I'm sitting here talking to you 11 months down the line." Speaking from a hospital bed at the end of the season finale, Clarkson revealed he had suffered from complications during treatment, which he told The Times had been caused by him resuming a course of tablets for his earlier vascular and cardiac problems. Read more from Sky News:Three people killed following fire in west LondonSky News podcast to become landmark TV show He said: "That was horrific and it was all my own fault." He continued: "Two or three weeks after the cancer operation, I thought I'd better put myself back on those blood thinners. Big mistake, huge." He said it resulted in a "very big emergency in the middle of the night" and the treatment required as a result of that was "horrible". The diagnosis came almost two years after the TV presenter underwent a heart procedure, which saw him fitted with two stents to improve blood flow to the heart. He said his doctor had told him to stop working following the operation and that he had been advised to replace work with golf in a column for The Sun at the time. Clarkson said: "I am without a doubt, officially, the world's luckiest man." The celebrity farmer previously stopped smoking after contracting pneumonia on holiday in Spain. In a post on the X account of his pub, The Farmer's Dog, Clarkson added: "The reason why I'm fine is because the doctors caught the prostate cancer early, and they caught it early because I got tested."

No Writer
Jun 23
Note sent to media outlets claims Nancy Guthrie died after 'kidnap'
Some outlets previously said they received ransom notes about the case in the days following the disappearance of Ms Guthrie from her home near Tucson, Arizona. Two notes sent to a TV network in the wake of the 84-year-old's disappearance were believed to be potentially credible by investigators. The first note said Ms Guthrie, the mother of Today host Savannah, was safe and demanded cryptocurrency in exchange for her release, whereas the second did not ask for money and was said to be very different from the first. Now Sky's US partner network NBC News has reported that this second note indicated she had died after her disappearance. However, it did not offer an apology or ask payment for the release of her body, according to NBC. According to the note, those who kidnapped her did not mean to kill her, but she died shortly after being taken. The existence of the note was known, but some details including claims she had died, had not previously been released. Tucson TV station KOLD that received two notes agreed to hold off sharing the contents publicly so any future communications with the kidnapper or kidnappers could be authenticated. Jessica Bobula, news director of KOLD, said the station received several notes after Ms Guthrie disappeared and the station told authorities and shared only what the FBI released about the correspondence. Read more from Sky News:Iran war threat to UK powerEx-Wimbledon champion banned Ms Guthrie was reported missing from her home on 1 February and was last seen at the property at around 9.45pm the previous evening. Police believe she was kidnapped or "otherwise taken against her will" after finding blood near her front doorstep. The FBI released surveillance videos of a masked man outside Guthrie's front door on the night she went missing. It has since described the man as a suspect. Volunteers and search teams scoured the nearby desert terrain filled with cactuses, bushes and boulders in the weeks after she vanished. A volunteer group recently conducted a search for her body near the Arizona-Mexico border but didn't report finding her. Investigators involved in the case examined the two notes following Ms Guthrie's disappearance and believe they could be credible. After the second note was sent, Savannah Guthrie spoke about her mother's possible kidnapping in an Instagram video, and said the family would "pay" for her return. "We received your message and we understand," Savannah Guthrie said, sat beside her brother, Camron, and sister, Annie. "We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace." "This is very valuable to us, and we will pay," Savannah Guthrie added. Her video did not specify the details of the message she received. The Pima County Sheriff's Department said on Tuesday: "The investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie remains active and ongoing. "The Pima County Sheriff's Department continues to work closely with the FBI as investigators follow up on leads, review information, and pursue the facts surrounding this case." Savannah Guthrie returned to NBC's Today show in April for the first time since her mother's disappearance. The 54-year-old has said she's a changed person since she went missing and that it's difficult to press ahead without knowing what happened to her.

No Writer
Jun 22
Clive Davis, legendary music mogul behind Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen, dies aged 94
Davis's family members told Sky News' US partner NBC News that the former Columbia Records president died on Monday in his Manhattan apartment. Earlier this year, Davis was hospitalised after suffering an upper respiratory issue. He was released a few days later. Davis's family said the music producer had made an "indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations" in a statement shared on his social media. "To the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives," they said. "He discovered, mentored, and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations." Davis rose from being a record company lawyer to one of the music industry's most powerful figures. He came to be known as "the man with the golden ear" because of his ability to identify potential hit songs. One of his crowning achievements was launching Houston's career when he signed her to his Arista record label when she was a teenager. She became one of the best-selling artists in pop history. After struggling with drug abuse, Houston died in 2012 just hours before she was due to appear at an annual pre-Grammy Awards party hosted by Davis. The mogul also launched the career of multiple Grammy winner Alicia Keys, as well as signing Patti Smith, Springsteen and Lou Reed. Keys said in a tribute shared on Instagram that Davis was a "visionary who transformed dreams into reality, leaving an indelible mark on music and lives worldwide". In a post on Instagram, Springsteen said: "At 22 years old, he changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records. "He treated me with the same respect and kindness as a 22-year-old nobody as he did after all my success. A great man." Smith also paid tribute to Davis on social media: "Thanking Clive Davis for transforming music, and on a very personal note, for believing in me, shepherding my efforts and a half century of your love and support," she said. Read more from Sky News:Clarkson reveals prostate cancer is in remissionEx-Federal Reserve head Alan Greenspan dies aged 100 Davis's family said the "towering figure whose influence changed music forever" was also a committed family man. "To his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the center of our lives, the source of wisdom, strength, encouragement, and unconditional love," they said. "No matter how extraordinary his professional accomplishments, he never lost sight of what mattered most: the people he loved." They added: "Through every chapter of his remarkable life, family remained Clive's greatest pride and deepest joy. "Today, we celebrate not only a towering figure whose influence changed music forever, but the man who led our family with grace, generosity, and kindness. "We will miss him greatly, cherish him always, and carry his love with us for the rest of our lives." He won four Grammys for producing albums by Kelly Clarkson, Carlos Santana and Jennifer Hudson. Davis is survived by his four children, eight grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his partner Greg Schriefer.


