Farrukh

Good morning, opening with the Eurofighter, Fursan Al Emarat and a Chinook at #FIA2026

We fly into the show with Blade, meet Joby's test pilot Buddy, chat to a Black Hawk pilot encouraging girls into STEM, and test Soundcore's ANC earbuds with the very loud air display ✈️🚁

Journalist, "Do you have a message for the victims?"

Russel Brand's Father, "Victims? What victims? What Russel?"

Journalist, "Not Russel, his victims"

RBF "The girls you mean, who chased him and harassed him?"

Journalist, "No his victims"

RBF, "I don't care. it's just history"

My view:

You can love your son and still show compassion for the women he hurt.

A few words acknowledging what it took for them to come forward would hardly have been a betrayal.

What exactly gives Russell Brand’s father the right to call it “just history”? He can walk away from that interview and get on with his day. He has no idea what any of those women still carry with them.

It’s the word “just” that’s so cruel. The women know how long ago it happened. They’re the ones who lived through it. His remark tells them that, in his view, enough time has passed for him to dismiss what his son did.

Nobody asked him to stop loving his son. He was asked if he had anything to say to the women his son hurt. He could have said he was sorry for what they’d been through. He chose to tell them he didn’t care.

Twenty years ago, Dannii Minogue publicly called Russell Brand a “vile predator” who “wouldn’t take no for an answer”.

Today, Brand was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others.

Many believe 10 years and 6 months is far too short.

Speaking before the announcement Prime Minister Andy Burnham explained that support "still isn't there for victims in the way that it should be"

Adding that he has taken the decision to ensure there are rape and serious sexual offence teams in every police force by the end of next year.

And he praised the women who came forward saying "their bravery will, I believe, change the system more broadly"

My view:

The four women at the centre of this case waited between 17 and 22 years to see Brand convicted. That puts the Prime Minister’s words about bravery into perspective.

Coming forward meant revisiting some of the most painful moments of their lives, with no guarantee that a jury would ever hear their accounts.

Burnham has set a deadline, and the public can hold him to it. But the real test will come when someone walks into a police station to report a rape.

Will they be able to speak to a specialist, know who to call about their case and get support throughout the investigation?

That is what this promise should mean in practice.

What she said 👇

And nothing says democracy more than Boris Johnson appointing the son of a former KGB agent into the House of Lords, despite the initial assessment that granting Lebedev a peerage posed a national security risk as reported in The Sunday Times.

Good morning, have a wonderful start to the week - happy Monday 😊