PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has acknowledged having experienced racism while growing up in Southampton.
Reacting to last week’s damning report that claimed discrimination in English cricket, he said racism “stings” and “hurts”.
Sunak, son of an Indian-origin couple who migrated to the UK from east Africa, told the BBC: "Of course, I have experienced racism growing up, in particular, and of course, I know it exists."
It “stings you in a way that very few other things do. It stings you. It does hurt,” he said and recalled a family outing when he was subjected to abuse.
“One time, which I’ve talked about in the past, where I was with my younger brother and sister out and about in Southampton and some people said a bunch of things and I felt doubly bad because I felt bad about it. But I had my younger brother and sister with me and I didn’t want them to hear it and be exposed to it. It was really hard.”
But he said the UK has evolved as a society over the years although more should be done.
“Those instances I suffered as a child I don’t think would happen to my kids today because we have made incredible progress as a country.”
He told the broadcaster during the second Ashes Test between England and Australia: “Of course, there are pockets where we are not doing as well and we have to strive to be better."
Sunak, 43, said, “there is no place for racism or sexism or anything else in our society and where we find it, we should stamp it out”.
During his Conservative leadership bid last year, Sunak had denied the colour of his skin had any bearing on his chances of leading the party and the government. He had pointed out his election to the Commons which according to him showed that voters chose merit and not race.
He said it was “sad” to read the independent commission’s report into equity in cricket, published in the wake of a racism scandal centred around the treatment of Pakistan-born bowler Azeem Rafiq at English side Yorkshire.
Rafiq went public with allegations of racism and bullying in 2020, prompting the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to commission the report.
Six former Yorkshire players found guilty of using racist language in the Rafiq case were last month fined by the Cricket Discipline Commission.
Of the more than 4,000 individuals interviewed for the ICEC report, 50 per cent described experiencing discrimination in the previous five years, with the figures substantially higher for people from ethnically diverse communities.
Women were often treated as "second-class citizens", the report found, also stating that not enough had been done to address class barriers, with private schools dominating the pathway into cricket.
Sunak told the BBC: "It was, for people who love cricket, really hard to read and you were just sad."
A total of 44 recommendations were made in the report, including a call for equal pay for male and female international players by 2030.
Sunak said the ECB was "absolutely committed" to fixing the problems outlined in the report.
"I have spent a little bit of the morning talking to the team at the ECB and I think they have approached it in exactly the right way," he said.
"They commissioned this report off their own back because they wanted to be proactive so they deserve credit for that."
Sunak hopes the report provides cricket with a chance to reset its moral compass.
"They have offered an unreserved apology and are fully committed to implementing change and for this to be a reset moment for cricket," he said.
"We all want it to be open for everybody from all backgrounds and where everyone can feel respect and supported when playing it.
"So that's what we want and I'm confident the whole cricketing family share that ambition."
Michael Madsen was known for blending menace with vulnerability across a 200-film career.
His breakout role as Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs remains one of the most iconic villains in cinema.
Roles in Kill Bill and Donnie Brasco cemented his status as a cult favourite and Tarantino regular.
He also surprised audiences with emotional performances in Free Willy and Thelma & Louise.
Some actors chase stardom. Michael Madsen wasn’t one of them. He didn’t charm you with a smile; he unnerved you with a stare. His voice wasn’t smooth; it was gravel scraped over concrete. He played men who lived in the shadows, spoke in grunts or chillingly calm threats, and carried violence like a familiar tool. But damn, when he was on screen, you couldn’t look away.
Madsen didn’t act tough; he was tough, and not in the movie-star sense. In a real, broken, beautiful way. These 10 roles aren’t just career highlights. They’re pieces of a man who gave us something rare: the truth, hidden in hard men with soft edges.
10 iconic Michael Madsen roles that made him Hollywood’s ultimate tough guy Getty Images
1. Mr Blonde / Vic Vega – Reservoir Dogs (1992)
This was the performance that made people remember his name, and wince at the sound of “Stuck in the Middle With You.” Sadistic but eerily calm, Mr Blonde was cinema’s most unsettling psychopath. Madsen’s slow dance with madness in the torture scene became legend. You couldn’t look away. Iconic doesn’t cover it. This is scripture!
He used to be a deadly assassin. Now he lives in a trailer, sweeping floors at a strip club. Budd is bitter, broke, and tired. But in Madsen’s hands, he wasn’t pathetic, just human. When he tells Beatrix he’s going to bury her alive, you believe it. But you also sense the pain in him, too. This was Madsen showing the flip side of the killer coin, the burnout, the regret, and the dark humour clinging to survival. His reunion with Tarantino after the Pulp Fiction miss was pure magic.
Michael Madsen as Budd aka SidewinderIMDB
3. Jimmy Lennox – Thelma & Louise (1991)
A rare crack in the tough-guy armour. As Louise’s boyfriend, Jimmy was tender and vulnerable. The way he proposed, quietly and without ego, gave the film its emotional anchor. It shattered the typecast before it even fully formed. He could do tenderness and do it damn well. Again, it proved Madsen didn’t need blood or guns to break your heart. Just honesty.
Thelma & LouiseIMDB
4. Glen – Free Willy (1993)
Nobody expected Michael Madsen in a family movie. But he surprised everyone as the gruff but caring foster father who supports a troubled kid and a whale. It was his gentlest role. It was a massive hit, proving his face could sell popcorn to kids, not just nightmares to adults. For a whole generation, this was the first time they saw a different side of him.
Free WillyIMDB
5. Sonny Black’s crew – Donnie Brasco (1997)
Thrown in with Pacino and Depp? No sweat. He wasn’t centre stage in this one, but his presence mattered. Playing a low-key mobster in Al Pacino’s crew, Madsen added quiet threat to every scene. His chemistry with Johnny Depp added tension, always teetering between trust and suspicion. He held his own effortlessly, proving his power wasn’t just in volume, but in chilling authenticity.
Donnie BrascoAlex on Film
6. Detective Bob – Sin City (2005)
Brief, but slick. In Robert Rodriguez’s grim, graphic world, Madsen slipped in perfectly as a shady cop who clearly had seen too much. His dialogue was sharp, his smirk even sharper. He felt like he belonged in that black-and-white world of revenge and ruin. Honestly, we bought it!
Sin CityIMDB
7. Joe Gage – The Hateful Eight (2015)
Stuck in a snowy cabin with strangers, Madsen’s Joe Gage claimed to be writing a memoir. But you never bought it. He was too quiet, too calculating. His stillness screamed suspicion. Tarantino knew what he was doing when he brought Madsen back into the fold. Classic Madsen menace, refined like aged whisky.
The Hateful Eight IMDB
8. Detective Eddie Hall – Mulholland Falls (1996)
Old-school noir suited him. In this 1950s crime story, he played a no-nonsense cop with a worn-out charm. The suits, the cigarettes, the world-weariness, it let him lean hard into that trademark cool. He wasn’t the star, but he owned every scene with brute force and exhausted cynicism that felt lived-in. Pure noir cool.
Mulholland FallsVirtual History
9. Vince – Kill Me Again (1989)
Before Tarantino, there was Kill Me Again. This early role showed flashes of what would become his signature: ice-cold menace and unpredictable rage. This is where the “lethal quiet man” persona truly crystallised. Vince was brutal but controlled, always one bad moment away from exploding. You saw the blueprint of what Tarantino would later amplify into legend.
Kill Me Again
10. Sheriff Hackett – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
A tiny, meta cameo, but oh so perfect. Playing a laconic TV sheriff in Tarantino’s ode to old Hollywood? In Tarantino’s nostalgic love letter to old Hollywood, Madsen turned up as a TV cowboy: raspy, rugged, and perfectly cast. It felt like a quiet goodbye, or maybe a wink to all the dusty sheriffs he could’ve played.
Michael Madsen attends the Closing Ceremony and Fistful of Dollars Screening Getty Images
More than a tough guy
Madsen never chased the spotlight. He just did the work and let the work speak. He gave us characters we didn’t always like but couldn’t forget. He was the terrifying villain you couldn’t forget (Blonde), the weary killer you almost pitied (Budd), and the tough guy who could surprisingly break your heart (Jimmy, Glen).
In a world full of actors trying to be cool, Michael Madsen was cool, because he didn’t try. He just was. That’s why he mattered. And why he always will.
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Workers are engaged at their sewing stations in a garment factory in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, on April 9, 2025. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
BANGLADESH, the world's second-biggest garment manufacturer, aims to strike a trade deal with the US before Donald Trump's punishing tariffs kick in next week, said the country's top commerce official.
Dhaka is proposing to buy Boeing planes and boost imports of US wheat, cotton and oil in a bid to reduce the trade deficit, which Trump used as the reason for imposing painful levies in his "Liberation Day" announcement.
"We have finalised a draft reciprocal trade agreement," Mahbubur Rahman said on Wednesday (3), adding the government was "hopeful of reaching a win-win agreement".
Rahman said a meeting between officials from both countries was slated for July 8, with the US representing 20 per cent of Bangladesh's ready-made garments exports.
Textile and garment production accounts for about 80 per cent of exports in Bangladesh and the industry has been rebuilding after it was hit hard in a student-led revolution that toppled the government last year.
Trump hit Bangladesh with 37 per cent tariffs in his April 2 announcement, which is more than double the 16 per cent already placed on cotton products.
He suspended the tolls' introduction until July 9, as he did with other global trading partners, though a baseline 10 per cent levy was kept in place.
Bangladesh exported $8.36 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024, while imports from there amounted to $2.21bn, according to the Bangladesh Bank and the National Board of Revenue.
"As part of the initiative to reduce the trade gap, the government already decided to import a large volume of wheat, purchasing 14 aircraft from US manufacturer Boeing, buying cotton and more oil and gas from the US farms," Rahman said.
He did not give further details on the exact timing or extent of the proposed deals, but said the government had held around 28 meetings and document exchanges in a bid to reach an agreement.
Interim leader Muhammed Yunus spoke to US secretary of state Marco Rubio on Monday (30) and told him Dhaka was "working with your officials to finalise a package of measures to effectively respond to president Trump's trade agenda".
Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the national platform of the garment makers, expressed concerns about any deal.
"The already enacted additional 10 per cent tariff is hitting our exporters, and if it goes further, we might lose US buyers," he warned.
But Mohammad Hatem, president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), said he was optimistic.
"We are hopeful of a positive outcome on the US tariff before July 9," he said.
"There will be a temporary problem if the US administration does not revise the tariff. But it will largely and ultimately hit the US buyers, as they would have to buy goods at higher prices."
(AFP)
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Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who grew up in Brenchley
Day one of the Kent County Show begins at Detling Showground near Maidstone
The Duchess of Edinburgh visits the event for the first time in 16 years
Organisers expect up to 70,000 visitors over the weekend
Farming and rural life are at the centre of the three-day programme
Highlights include live camel racing, equine sports, livestock displays and more
Kent County Show opens with royal visit
The Kent County Show returned to Detling near Maidstone on Friday, marking the start of a major three-day celebration of farming, food, and rural living. The event opened with a special visit from the Duchess of Edinburgh, who is attending for the first time in 16 years.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who grew up in Brenchley near Tunbridge Wells and serves as patron of the Association of Show and Agricultural Organisations (ASAO), met with farmers, equine exhibitors, and local businesses on her tour of the showground.
Spotlight on farming and rural life
Organised by the Kent County Agricultural Society, the show brings together people from across the county to highlight the importance of agriculture and rural industries. Chairman Matthew Cullen said there was a "real buzz in the air" and called the royal visit a “great achievement”.
“There’s lots on offer,” he said. “From the livestock section with all the animals, young farmers, equine sports and food halls. We’ve also got something a little unusual this year – live camel racing. It isn’t what you’d normally get to see.”
Mr Cullen added that the event offers an opportunity for farmers to network and for the public to better understand how food is produced. “We all know Kent as the Garden of England, so for the rural and farming sector, it's a proud moment to come together and show off to the general public.”
Boost in interest following farming TV series
According to Mr Cullen, the farming sector has seen a noticeable spike in public interest, partly due to the popularity of the Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm. “It has brought farming to the forefront of people’s minds,” he said, noting a broader uptick in engagement at agricultural shows across the UK.
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Friday highlights at the showground
The opening day features a packed programme of events across multiple rings. Highlights include:
09:30 – Kent Youth Trials (Heritage Ring)
10:00 – Joseph’s Amazing Racing Pigs (Countryside Ring)
11:15 – Camel Racing (John D Wood & Co Astor Ring)
11:45 – Sheep Dog Display (Countryside Ring)
12:15 – Hypo Hounds Diabetic Assistance Dog Display (Countryside Ring)
13:15 – Heritage Parade (John D Wood & Co Astor Ring)
15:05 – British Novice Showjumping with 90cm Open (Standen Ring)
17:30 – Donkey In Hand Championship (Pam Nesfield Ring)
Performances from Rock Choir and various vehicle and dog displays are also scheduled throughout the day.
Visitor information and tickets
Attendance for the weekend is expected to range between 60,000 to 70,000 people, depending on the weather. Tickets are still available to book online or can be purchased at the gate.
Adult tickets: £22 (in advance)
Child tickets: £3 (in advance)
Under 5s: Free entry
The Kent County Show continues through the weekend with a wide range of attractions, from local produce to equestrian competitions and entertainment for all ages.
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The certificate was presented to Shah at the Welsh parliament by Anita Bailey, Home Office Director Windrush Unit.
A prominent Asian doctor has been recognised for his services to the community. Prof Hasmukh Shah has received a certificate of appreciation for his contribution and services to the United Kingdom.
The certificate was issued by Seema Malhotra MP, UK Minister for Migration and Citizenship, as part of the Windrush Cymru Elders and Race Council Cymru’s Windrush work in Wales.
It was presented to Shah at the Welsh parliament by Anita Bailey, Home Office Director Windrush Unit.
Shah is the Secretary of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) in Wales.
In June 2018, he received the British Empire Medal (BEM) from Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honours List.
In 2024, the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles, presented Shah with a Lifetime Service Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the international Girmit conference in Cardiff.
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Katy Perry Orlando Bloom Choose Co Parenting Future After Nine Years
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have ended their nine-year on-off relationship, confirmed via reps.
The couple says the focus has now shifted to co-parenting their daughter, Daisy.
Perry got emotional on stage during the Australian leg of her tour amid split rumours.
Bloom posted cryptic quotes about loneliness and new beginnings.
After weeks of speculation, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have officially confirmed they are no longer together. The singer and actor, who have been in a high-profile relationship since 2016, released a joint statement through their representatives, saying they’ve “shifted” their relationship to focus on co-parenting their daughter. The pair, who got engaged in 2019 and welcomed daughter Daisy Dove Bloom in 2020, had reportedly been living increasingly separate lives in recent months.
Katy Perry Orlando Bloom Choose Co Parenting Future After Nine YearsGetty Images
Couple to continue as co-parents
In the statement released via their representatives, the couple acknowledged the growing media interest in their relationship, clarifying that they’ve been navigating a transition “over the past many months.” They added that their priority remains raising Daisy in a stable and loving environment. “They will continue to be seen together as a family,” the statement read, emphasising their commitment to respectful co-parenting.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom focus on raising their daughter with love and respect Getty Images
Signs of distance: Solo appearances and emotional moments
Bloom recently attended Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding in Venice without Perry, fuelling breakup rumours. Meanwhile, Perry was wrapping up the Australian leg of her Lifetimes world tour. On stage in Adelaide, fans captured footage of the singer holding back tears as she thanked the audience, saying, “Thank you for always being there for me, Australia. It means the world,” before launching into Firework.
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Cryptic social media posts spark rumours
Adding to the speculation, Bloom shared a series of introspective posts on Instagram. One included a Buddha quote: “Each day is a new beginning. What we do today is what matters most.” Others included Carl Jung’s reflections on loneliness and human connection, which fans interpreted as hints at personal turmoil.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom end their long running romance and plan to raise their daughter together as a family
Long road with no wedding in sight
Perry and Bloom first met at a Golden Globes after-party in 2016, got engaged three years later, and welcomed their child in 2020. A wedding had been planned in Japan but was postponed due to the pandemic and never rescheduled. Both have been married before: Perry to comedian Russell Brand and Bloom to model Miranda Kerr. This marks another high-profile chapter closed in both their personal lives.