Not for the first time in his career, Piers Morgan has become embroiled in a spat on Twitter – this time with Manchester’s very own Tim Burgess.
The Charlatans frontman and famously outspoken presenter have been bickering on the platform in recent days.
The whole thing started in a gloriously petty way, with Tim seemingly waiting nine years to clap back at Piers.
The music legend dug out a Tweet from all the way back in 2013, where Piers had posted: “Wow @Tim_Burgess 56k tweets for 68k followers.. no wonder you can’t sell a bus ticket these days! Night, buddy.”
Viewing figures for Piers Morgan’s new show have plummeted since it launched. Credit: Twitter, @piersmorgan
Tim shared that nearly-decades old Tweet again this week, asking: “How’re those viewing figures doing @piersmorgan?” with a winking emoji.
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He then reminded his followers that viewers of Piers Morgan’s flagship show – Piers Morgan Uncensored – on new channel talkTV have plummeted from 317,000 to 74,000 in just over a week on air.
Of course Piers wasn’t going to let the jibe slide past without a response, so he replied: “A lot better than your last three album sales.”
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Tim Burgess on stage with the Charlatans. Credit: Flickr
Celebrated comedian Shappi Khorsandi then waded in to the feud to point out: “But Tim is an artist, fame is a by-product of what he does. But you, you don’t ‘make’ anything. No-one plays you at their wedding. No one turns to your work to soothe their soul. Twitter followers etc just don’t mean to artists what they mean to you.”
Piers labelled her take ‘a load of old cobblers’.
Tim scathingly replied: “Man, just take a seat for a damn minute. You trade on division and picking on others, you use follower numbers to attempt to belittle people, you shout about ‘snowflakes’ when you have a fragile ego. Let’s not forget that some awful things have happened on your watch. Pipe down.
“Anyone wishing to use my name to get Twitter likes. Go right ahead. Fill your boots. Whatever makes you happy.”
And in true Piers style, he said: “And you’re a pompous fading cliché-ridden old rocker desperately trying – and failing – to stay vaguely relevant by using my name to get Twitter likes, so we make a right pair. Pipe down yourself.”
The argument has drawn a fair amount of attention from Twitter users in the last 24 hours, including one person who helpfully suggested: “Calm down Piers! Have a vegan sausage roll!”
Featured image:Wikimedia Commons / Twitter
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Jude Bellingham given suspended one-match ban and fine for ‘inappropriate’ gesture
Danny Jones
England and Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has been handed a suspended one-match ban after making a gesture towards the Slovakia fans following the Three Lions’ last-gasp win in the round of 16 of Euro 2024.
Bellingham scored what has already gone down as one of the greatest England goals of all time to equalise against their first knockout opponents of the tournament to put them through to the quarter-final stage.
However, it was his celebrations in the immediate aftermath following the goal that got him into a little bit of trouble, as a small gesture towards his genitals has seen the Madrid midfielder pick up a fine and a one-match ban that he will thankfully he doesn’t have to serve any suspension immediately.
ln case you missed it, this is the moment in question, as reshared by the player himself:
🥱❌- An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight.🤝🏽 https://t.co/H8sETMkPoi
As you can see, Bellingham shrugged off the gesture as nothing more than an “inside joke towards some friends” who were in attendance inside Gelsenkirchen’s Veltins-Arena and clearly wasn’t willing to indulge any suggestion that he meant any offence despite the crude gesture.
Regardless, UEFA’s ethics and disciplinary body, unfortunately, hasn’t seen it that way; they stated that he violated “the basic rules of decent conduct” with the celebration, being slapped with a €30,000 fine (approximately £25k) and the match ban.
They did go on to explain that the ban is “subject to a probationary period of one year, starting from the date of the present decision”, meaning that it will only have to be served if the 21-year-old re-offends in the next 12 months.
A big relief for England supporters after he helped keep them in the game with his second goal in a competition where Gareth Southgate‘s side has still struggled to really get going.
BREAKING: Jude Bellingham has been given a suspended one-match ban and fined £25,000 for a gesture during England's 2-1 win over Slovakia 🚨 pic.twitter.com/M0fUx8Z0zE
While Bellingham will be available for Saturday’s match against Switzerland, another player received a harsher punishment for his reaction following a goal at this year’s Euros.
Turkey defender Merih Demiral has been handed a straight two-match ban for a politically associated gesture he made during his side’s previous win, doing the wolf salute celebration after the second goal of his brace against Austria.
The gesture is linked to the far-right Grey Wolves extremist group, who are also closely linked with Turkey’s ruling coalition National Movement Party. Bellingham’s behaviour pales in comparison when sized up against potentially inflammatory instances like this.
Meanwhile, back in the England camp, there is another member of the squad who Three Lions fans will be hoping can make an impact in upcoming games – we can only hope.
Watch the moment Mayor Andy Burnham learns of Labour landslide as Tories lose all Greater Manchester seats
Danny Jones
It’s official: the Labour Party have won the 2024 UK General Election as the Conservative reign is brought to an end after 14 years and the Mayor for Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, learning of the landslide has become somewhat of a viral moment.
Not only were the Tories displaced from Parliament following the result but the Labour majority was massive, winning a total of 412 seats compared to just 120 for the incumbents but most notably in local terms, not a single blue seat was left intact.
With 25 of the region’s 27 constituencies going red and backing Sir Keir Starmer to become Prime Minister, Manchester’s Mayor Burnham made no secret of his relief and satisfaction as the exit polls came through on Thursday night whilst sat on the panel for Sky News’ coverage.
Here’s the moment Burnham was visibly buzzing mid-broadcast:
The 54-year-old was already vocally positive in the lead-up to the vote as well, responding to the now outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims that a Labour supermajority and “blank cheque” approach would only lead to more tax.
Quoting him on X, the former MP for Leigh simply wrote, “So it looks like the Tories are giving up on getting back into government in my lifetime. I’ll settle for that!”, along with a laughing emoji.
The only two Greater Manchester seats to stray from the red wall were Stockport constituencies Hazel Grove and Cheadle, which still have some historic Cheshire roots where the vote was more varied and some Conservative voters still held out.
Much like the crowd in the hall over in North East Somerset and Hanham (a newly created seat), where Jacob Rees-Mogg has remained since 2010, Burnham also thoroughly enjoyed the moment he learned the Labour landside including the controversial Tory losing to Dan Norris by more than 5k votes.
Dubbing it the “[Michael] Portillo moment” he has been waiting for (referencing the Conservative frontbencher once tipped to become the party’s leader who was displaced Stephen Twigg in the 1997 election), Burnham said: “He’s been battered and he deserves to be”.
The Mayor went on to insist that “he has no clue what’s inflicted on people” – a sentiment we imagine he feels applies to the last decade and a half of Tory rule in general.