
The former England manager may be remembered by many for his ‘I’d love it’ rant in 1996, but that should not obscure the remarkable nature of his football career
Kevin Keegan, who has died aged 75, is the only British player to win the Ballon d’Or twice, was the star of Liverpool’s first European Cup-winning team, a messianic figure at Newcastle United as a player and coach, forging a team so memorable that Fifa’s president wrote to commend him, and was the captain and then manager of the England men’s national team. And yet, as Keegan would ruefully reflect, he will principally be remembered by many for an emotional outburst that precipitated Newcastle’s historic failure in a Premier League title race, a TV interview which presaged the coming era of the modern game.
Keegan’s “I’d love it” rant of April 1996, directed at Alex Ferguson, became a meme before the modern meaning of the word and social media even existed, repeatedly played on Sky Sports and becoming indelibly marked in the minds of multiple generations, many not even born when it occurred. It frequently tops polls as the most memorable moment in Premier League history and foreshadowed an era where digital clips and personality narratives would dominate football coverage.
Continue reading...He looks the part, with a rise as impressive as his speeches, but is that enough? You cannot know if someone is up to the job until they have to do it
Only vaulting ambition takes anyone to No 10, but Andy Burnham’s ambition reaches phenomenal heights. Can he really make the biggest changes in 40 years? Can he build a new economy? The new prime minister lashes himself to the mast of those mighty aspirations, but adds in something even riskier – an end to rough sleeping, ordered immediately. That’s so highly visible everywhere that it will be a test of the extent of his power – will it reach into each dank alley and shop doorway?
He understands the immensity of the tasks ahead. “I know what to do,” he said on taking up the leadership. Indeed, he is the most experienced prime minister to enter that door in recent years. He knows the Treasury as its chief secretary, he knows the inside ways of the cabinet, he has run the NHS and Greater Manchester. He knows Whitehall and Westminster, not to their advantage. Beyond that, he knows the disgruntled mood in the everyday world outside, where incomes stagnate.
Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Elon Musk is trying to own it, competing powers are trying to fight in it and nobody seems to be regulating it. So who does space really belong to?
The last time I saw Laura Grego was in a tent in a baking field on the Welsh borders in May. The conversation on stage ranged from the dangers of space debris to how the law of the sea might pertain to outer space; from our sense of the sacred to our interplanetary futures. At one point Grego, a physicist, said intently, “People have to be aware of what is happening in space. Public knowledge has to catch up.” Three weeks later, SpaceX launched on the stock exchange, temporarily making Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
So, I ask her now, what is it that we should all know? Well, she says, the average person’s experience of space is about to change. If, so far, that has been “looking at the stars and being full of wonder, full of connection with the universe”, perhaps noticing the occasional streaking object that was not a shooting star, now “there are plans for tens of thousands more satellites, which would really change your relationship with what you see in the sky”. SpaceX, specifically, has just applied to a federal regulator for permission to launch up to 1m of them.
Continue reading...Explosion of anger over education system and youth unemployment has led to movement’s rapid rise
Continue reading...New £500m town centre welcomes its first tenant this month, but displaced traders say promises that they could return have been broken
Diana Sach once employed more than 30 people and catered for hundreds more every day from her Latin American restaurant and delicatessen, famous for its Peruvian empanadas, in south London’s Elephant and Castle district.
Now, she looks longingly at the shiny tall buildings that have replaced the brightly coloured but shabby shopping centre that was her home from home before being demolished in 2021.
Continue reading...‘Alan and I have neat hair because we’d both just been in a military play. If we’d had crazy 1980s mullets, it wouldn’t have become a timeless classic’
I’d done WarGames and Ladyhawke and was getting sent a lot of “young guy” parts. I was a little concerned at first because Ferris talks to the audience – I’d done that in two plays and didn’t want to it to seem like that’s all I could do. Meanwhile, my agent said: “You’ve been asked to do a John Hughes movie. You’re doing it.” I didn’t know much about John at the time but I kept hearing him being referred to as the “Spielberg of teen films”.
Continue reading...New prime minister says government must ‘do better’ to deliver change but promises prudent approach to economy
Andy Burnham has said his arrival in power will “bring back hope” to Britain as he launched his premiership with the surprise appointment of John Healey as chancellor and a promise to repair the long-term damage caused to communities during the Thatcher era.
The new UK prime minister acknowledged people were “fed up” with politics as he addressed the country after taking over from Keir Starmer in Downing Street, saying the government needed to “do better” to deliver real change.
Continue reading...Additional £340m over three years allocated to get people off the streets ‘at the earliest opportunity’
Andy Burnham has promised to end rough sleeping in England in his first pledge as prime minister, allocating an additional £340m over three years as he seeks to replicate the homelessness schemes he rolled out in Greater Manchester.
Speaking in front of Downing Street immediately after becoming prime minister, Burnham said he would try to get people off the streets “at the earliest opportunity”.
Continue reading...From the Treasury to the Home Office, we look at who is heading up key departments in new PM’s government
Burnham vows his arrival in power will be ‘circuit breaker’ moment for UK
Six highlights from Andy Burnham’s first Downing Street speech
Andy Burnham has appointed his first cabinet, with the new prime minister rewarding those who have been loyal to his takeover efforts. He had promised to pick his top team from all wings of the party in an effort to show he is trying to run a more inclusive administration.
But at the same time, his decision to have a brutal clearout of Starmer allies resulted in many considered to be on the right of the party or close to the former prime minister losing their jobs. These are the key announcements so far:
Continue reading...The new prime minister has promised a ‘circuit breaker’ moment for the country, as he becomes the UK’s seventh leader since 2016. But will he be able to make the changes that are desperately needed? Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey look at how he will try to do things differently and who will be helping him in the cabinet
Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran at politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com
Continue reading...