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Phillip Schofield shares family photo during lockdown, appears to contradict reports he's moved out

TV presenter, wife Stephanie and their daughters played a game of Murder Mystery




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Comedian Will Hislop goes viral for NHS clap for carers parody

Will Hislop engaged in a pretend argument with his neighbour, 'Karen', over whether one of them had broken lockdown rules





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Drake: Dark Lane Demo Tapes review – rap’s whingeing king hits a dead end

OVO
There are flashes of skill and rawness in this odds-and-ends mixtape but it feels like a clumsy lunge at commercial success

In a world where the boundary between mixtapes and albums is becoming ever more blurred, the title of Drake’s latest album highlights its interstitial nature. That said, it’s still slightly misleading. There are tracks here that sound like demos – the mopey James Blake-isms of Chicago Freestyle are audibly unpolished – but for the most part, it ’s a way of collecting up leftovers and leaks, spare tracks he apparently has lying around the studio.

Those inclined to view Drake’s career with a cool eye might be surprised he has any spare tracks lying around the studio, given the state of his last album. Listening to Scorpion, 25 songs long, required a certain degree of mental stamina: you needed to steel yourself against the panicky sensation that you might die of old age before it ended. But it wasn’t the sheer quantity that was the problem so much as the quality of what was there. Scorpion had its moments but was so hopelessly uneven that it was easy to buy into the theory that its length was not due to its author’s teeming multiplicity of fantastic ideas, but an attempt to game the streaming services: more songs means more streams, more streams means a higher chart placing.

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Paul Heaton: 'Love feels like someone is hitting your heart with a cricket bat'

The musician on DIY smooching, dinner parties and why he won’t do interviews between 1.45pm and 2.15pm

Raised in Sheffield, Heaton, 57, founded the Housemartins in the early eighties. They had hit singles with Happy Hour and Caravan Of Love before splitting in 1988. Heaton then formed the Beautiful South, releasing 10 albums before disbanding in 2007. With former band member Jacqui Abbott, Heaton has released three albums, the most recent being Manchester Calling. He is married with three children and lives in Manchester.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Forgetfulness.

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San Fran DA Wants Convicted Murderer Released -- His Dad...


San Fran DA Wants Convicted Murderer Released -- His Dad...


(Second column, 20th story, link)





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By making Florida his official residence, Trump may also have made legal mess...


By making Florida his official residence, Trump may also have made legal mess...


(Second column, 18th story, link)






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Cat and owner die after catching virus...


Cat and owner die after catching virus...


(Second column, 7th story, link)


Drudge Report Feed needs your support!   Become a Patron





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San Antonio passes resolution declaring 'Chinese virus' hate speech...


San Antonio passes resolution declaring 'Chinese virus' hate speech...


(First column, 23rd story, link)






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Why farmers dump food and crops while grocery stores run dry and Americans struggle...





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Trump says in his mother's eyes, he could do no wrong...


Trump says in his mother's eyes, he could do no wrong...


(First column, 5th story, link)

Related stories:
'She Loved Me'...




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Don Shula, coach who led Dolphins to NFL's only perfect season, dies aged 90

  • Head coach died ‘peacefully at home’ say Dolphins
  • Shula recorded only two losing seasons in long career in Miami

Don Shula, the head coach with the most wins in NFL history, has died at the age of 90.

Shula is most famous for leading the 1972 Miami Dolphins to the only undefeated NFL season in history. The team said in a statement on Monday that Shula had “died peacefully” at home.

Related: Favre says Packers 'burned a bridge' with Aaron Rodgers in NFL draft

The Greatest.

Thank you for everything, Coach Shula. pic.twitter.com/7eXY4ZOKn6

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Why is it always the white NFL players who get a second chance?

In the NFL, weaponizing victimhood hurts black players while favoring white ones

Rare is the NFL draft that provokes second guessing about a kicker. But this year’s edition was no ordinary draft (see: 19, Covid.) And Justin Rohrwasser is no ordinary kicker.

When the New England Patriots selected Rohrwasser in the fifth round to replace the legendary Stephen Gostkowski, it was a shock, especially as the 23-year-old hadn’t been considered an exceptional talent in college. ESPN host Trey Wingo was even forced to admit on live TV that the Worldwide Leader in Sports had no highlights of Rohrwasser’s career.

Related: If athletes like Nick Bosa support Trump they should at least be honest

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NFL 2020 schedule: Chiefs kick off title defense against Texans in season opener

  • NFL releases 2020 schedule despite coronavirus concerns
  • Chiefs host Texans on 10 September in annual kickoff game
  • Brady to make Buccaneers debut on 13 September at Saints

The Kansas City Chiefs will open defense of their Super Bowl championship by hosting Houston on 10 September in the NFL’s annual kickoff game – pending developments in the coronavirus pandemic, of course.

The Texans won a regular-season game at Arrowhead Stadium in 2019, then blew a 24-0 lead in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Related: Ravens' Earl Thomas held at gunpoint by wife over alleged affair, police say

.@nflcommish on the release of the 2020 schedule pic.twitter.com/Mch0lgXkf8

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UFC 249: Ferguson faces Gaethje as Dana White touts only game in town

  • Ferguson meets Gaethje for UFC’s interim lightweight title
  • UFC head Dana White eager to reach sports-starved audience

The main event of Saturday’s UFC 249 card in Florida is billed as being for the interim lightweight title but Tony Ferguson says he should be considered the real champion if he beats opponent Justin Gaethje.

Former collegiate wrestler Ferguson, coming into the bout on a 12-fight win streak, was supposed to fight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in Brooklyn on 18 April but that was postponed due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Related: UFC announces three events to be held without fans at Jacksonville arena

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Space Lettuce Is Out of This World Good

Lettuce has key nutrients that give both astronauts and Earth-dwellers alike a physical and psychological boost. And the lettuce grown in space is no less nutritious than the Earth-bound variety.




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Can You Live Without Oxygen? This Animal Can

You could be excused for thinking that, of course, all animals breathe oxygen to live. Because it wasn't until very recently that scientists discovered the only multicellular animal that doesn't. Meet Henneguya salminicola.




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Robin the Robot Helps Sick Children Feel Less Lonely

A hospital stay can be a stressful experience for anybody, and especially for a child. But a smiling new robot named Robin plays games, tells stories and comforts children in need of a friend.




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Ocean Plastic Once Choking Chile's Shores Now in Patagonia's Hats

A startup is recycling tons of discarded fishing nets throughout Chile. Is this a template for tackling the global plastic waste problem?




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This Star Survived Being Swallowed by a Black Hole

A new kind of survival story: Scientists discovered a star that came near a black hole and lived to tell the tale – at least temporarily.




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NASA and SpaceX Set to Make History With Manned Space Launch

For the first time since 2011, NASA will launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil. It will also be the first time ever a private company will get them there.




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'I wanted something 100% pornographic and 100% high art': the joy of writing about sex

As authors from Chaucer to Hollinghurst have shown, sex reveals our emotions, instincts and morals. The question is not why write about sex, claims author Garth Greenwell, it’s why write about anything else?

There is a widely held belief, among English-language writers, that sex is impossible to write about well – or at least much harder to write about well than anything else. I once heard a wonderful writer, addressing students at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, say that her ideal of a sex scene would be the sentence: “They sat down on the sofa …” followed by white space. This is a prejudice I can’t understand. One of the glories of being a writer in English is that two of our earliest geniuses, Chaucer and Shakespeare, wrote of the sexual body so exuberantly, claiming it for literature and bringing its vocabulary – including all those wonderful four-letter words – into the texture of our literary language. This is a gift not all languages have received; a translator once complained to me that in her language there was only the diction of the doctor’s office or of pornography, neither of which felt native to poetry.

More than this, surely it is absurd to claim that a central activity of human life, a territory of feeling and drama, is off-limits to art. Sex is a uniquely useful tool for a writer, a powerful means not just of revealing character or exploring relationships, but of asking the largest questions about human beings.

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Rupert Murdoch gives up his bonus as News Corp loses US$1bn in three months

Huge losses driven partly by fall in valuation of Australian pay TV service Foxtel and decline in news advertising revenue

Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire, News Corp, lost US$1bn in the three months to the end of March and is expecting more financial pain as the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis continues.

The chief executive, Robert Thomson, said there was a fresh wave of cost-cutting ahead for the group, including a “strategic review of our Australian newspaper holdings” that could signal further job losses at the company’s smaller mastheads.

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Brian May taken to hospital after tearing buttock muscles while gardening

Queen guitarist says ‘I won’t be able to walk for a while’ after injury during lockdown and lambasts Boris Johnson over coronavirus

Brian May has complained of “relentless pain” after he was taken to hospital following a gardening injury that tore muscles in his buttocks – and, while in recovery, made a sustained attack on Boris Johnson’s preparedness for coronavirus.

Writing on Instagram, the Queen guitarist said: “I managed to rip my gluteus maximus to shreds in a moment of overenthusiastic gardening. So suddenly I find myself in a hospital getting scanned to find out exactly how much I’ve actually damaged myself. Turns out I did a thorough job – this is a couple of days ago – and I won’t be able to walk for a while … or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless.”

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David Sedaris: 'Alan Bennett's Talking Heads is pretty much the best thing ever'

The comic essayist on crying over Olive Kitteridge, his love for Richard Yates and the books that make him laugh

The book I am currently reading
Hidden Valley Road. It’s a nonfiction book about a family with 12 children, half of whom turn out to be schizophrenic. In the opening pages the mother sews a live bird’s eyes shut. And she’s one of the few who isn’t mentally ill!

The book that changed my life
Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions. A friend read it out aloud to me when we were hitchhiking across America in 1976, and it made me think:That’s right – books! After high school I had forgotten about them. As soon as I got a stable address, I secured a library card, and started making up for lost time.

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Terrible name, terrific sitcom: how Schitt's Creek became a surprise hit

Word of mouth turned the riches-to-rags show into a sleeper hit. Its creator and stars explain why it is going out at its peak

Schitt’s Creek was always going to be a hard sell. There is that title for a start; an off-putting pun that instantly sets the comedy bar below ground level. Couple that with a hackneyed fish-out-of-water premise involving a rich family forced to slum it in a backwater town and you’ve got a one-season sitcom at best. Co-created by and starring Dan Levy, best known as a presenter on MTV Canada, and his dad Eugene, most famous for playing Jim’s embarrassing dad in the American Pie films, it was rejected by HBO and Showtime, eventually finding a home on the little-known US pay-to-view channel Pop. Even its main draw, the great Catherine O’Hara, was initially unenthused by the project, turning down the role of the Rose family’s self-obsessed matriarch Moira, citing her own laziness.

Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips

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Ugly makeup: the trend highlighting what's beyond conventional beauty

Ugly makeup is imperfect, sloppy, chaotic – and only worn to please the wearer, against social expectations

In 2018, Rosanna Meikle felt like a failure. She was toiling through beauty school, and she hadn’t been able to find much work nor garner much attention for her creations online. She was exhausted from the sameness she saw around her, “a sea of beautiful girls, smoky eyes and plumped lips”, she remembers. “My school was in an expensive area of Auckland, which made me feel so out of place. I couldn’t afford the products or the clothes, my kit wasn’t ‘professional’ enough and neither was my look.”

Related: ‘It makes me feel human’: 11 women share their lockdown beauty regimens

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The Murdoch media’s China coronavirus conspiracy has one aim: get Trump re-elected | Kevin Rudd

News Corp is campaigning full-bore for the US president, with reports of a Wuhan lab ‘intelligence’ dossier being seeded across its empire

In liberal democracies, the integrity, impartiality and professionalism of intelligence agencies matters. That’s why it is essential that intelligence agencies remain aloof, not only from the political debates of the day, but also from the policy decisions that individual governments may take. The intelligence community’s core task is to provide brutally realistic analysis on the threat environments we face so that governments can then make the best-informed policy decisions possible to preserve our common security.

The failures of the intelligence community before the Iraq war, the gullibility of much of the western media, as well as the cynical manipulation of both by the political class of the day, provide us with a stark reminder of what can go radically wrong. On 8 September 2002 the New York Times published one of this century’s most consequential news articles. The front-page story, supplied by the Bush administration, claimed that Saddam Hussein had stepped up his quest for weapons of mass destruction by acquiring key components for a nuclear weapon. In the UK, the Blair government’s “dodgy dossier” compounded the error. John Howard did the same in Australia. The problem was that it just wasn’t true. These were over-egged stories designed to soften the public up for what would become a disastrous war.

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‘Why didn’t he help those little boys?’: how George Pell failed the children of Ballarat

The cardinal maintains he didn’t know about the Victorian town’s notorious paedophile priests, a claim the royal commission found ‘implausible’

“Why isn’t all of Australia talking about what happened here in Ballarat?”

That’s the question Clare Linane remembers asking her husband, Peter Blenkiron, 12 years ago as they were sitting in the kitchen talking about his abuse. Linane’s husband, brother and cousin had all been abused when they were children between 1973 and 1974 by Christian Brother and now convicted paedophile Edward “Ted” Dowlan. They knew they were among thousands of people living in and around Ballarat – Victoria’s largest inland city – who had been affected by child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy.

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Already in this crisis we are slipping into over-optimism about the economy and over-pessimism about debt | Wayne Swan

Deep recessions have long shadows and already there is a gaping hole opening up in our pandemic response

The great recession was followed by Brexit, the election of Donald Trump and the rise of authoritarianism particularly in Europe.

Big economic events have big political consequences.

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Take care with physical distancing on Mother's Day, Australia's deputy chief medical officer says

Paul Kelly warns people over 70 and with existing diseases are at high risk from coronavirus as pandemic restrictions ease

The deputy chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, is warning people to take care if visiting mums on Mother’s Day, as frictions emerge over the lockdown in Victoria.

In some states, authorities are allowing people to pay family visits on Sunday as coronavirus pandemic restrictions are eased, but Kelly has restated warnings that people over 70 and with existing chronic diseases are at high risk from coronavirus.

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Washington state now has another bug to worry about after 'murder hornets'

Washington state has another bug to worry about in addition to Asian giant hornets -- gypsy moths, which the state's governor says could become an "infestation."




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Experts agree this hurricane season will be above-average, maybe even extremely active

Hurricane season is fast approaching and it is likely to be active -- maybe even an extremely active -- season.




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Ricky Gervais criticises celebrities complaining about lockdown while NHS staff 'risk their health'

The comedian praised "selfless" NHS workers on the front line




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Bill Oddie remembers his friend and comedy partner Tim Brooke-Taylor in touching tribute

The comedian's death was announced over the weekend




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Liam Payne drops biggest hint yet that One Direction will reform for 10-year anniversary

The singer said the milestone would be a "very special moment".




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Amy Schumer reveals she changed her son's name after accidentally giving him a rude moniker

The comedian and her husband Chris Fischer welcomed their first child in May last year




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McFly rerecord their classic hit All About You in support of the NHS

The group originally released the chart-topping track in 2005




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Victoria Beckham shares adorable childhood snaps to mark her 46th birthday

The former Spice Girl celebrated her birthday with a throwback to her youth




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Piers Morgan slams 'prima donna millionaire' Victoria Beckham for furloughing fashion brand staff

Beckham is also sacrificing her own pay




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Fans pay tribute to Avicii on the two-year anniversary of his death

They've shared messages of remembrance in honour of the DJ




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Sir David Attenborough and Danny Dyer among celebrities teaching new BBC home schooling learning programming

Parents are getting a helping hand from some famous faces




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Amanda Holden recruits daughter Lexi for hilarious make-up tutorial with a twist

Hoping to recreate Holden's signature glow? You've come to the wrong place...




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Boyzone singer Shane Lynch moves out of his family home after arguing with wife during lockdown

The singer and his wife Sheena White have two children together