In an incredible turn of events, the former health secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly been suspended as a Conservative MP after apparently agreeing to join the cast of I’m A Celebrity 2022.
Filed firmly under headlines we never thought we’d write.
After numerous reports of the official lineup for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2022 began trickling in last week, the BBC has confirmed that Hancock will “swap representing his constituents at Westminster for eating bugs in the jungle” and we, for one, cannot wait to see what that looks like.
Former chief whip Simon Hart said the decision to join the reality TV show while still serving as an MP “is a matter serious enough to warrant suspension of the whip with immediate effect.”
The deputy chairman of his constituency’s Conservative Association seems to be more excited by the prospect of him joining the reality show.
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Fair to say @MattHancock's local Conservative Association is unimpressed. Andy Drummond, deputy chairman (political) of West Suffolk Conservative Association, told @PA: "I’m looking forward to him eating a kangaroo’s penis. Quote me. You can quote me that.”
Meanwhile, others have been less impressed by the decision by ITV producers, with journalist Nadine Batchelor-Hunt noting that “it says something when Matt Hancock has the whip removed more quickly over going on I’m A Celebrity than Chris Pincher did” over his sexual misconduct.
Many others echoed similar sentiments:
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Once again perplexed by the rules of British politics, that dictate Matt Hancock loses the Tory whip for going on I'm a Celeb, but not for overseeing tens of thousands of needless deaths during the pandemic
Sources close to West Suffolk representative state that he “doesn’t expect to serve in government again, so it’s an incredible opportunity for him to engage with the 12 million Brits who tune in every single night.” Hancock is apparently using his time in the jungle to promote his dyslexia campaign.
Trying to raise awareness for charity sounds great but he does realise he’s just going to be kept in as long as possible and made to do virtually every single trial, right?
Either way, many have been left angered by the decision to let yet another politician join a reality show when they are supposed to be serving the public, especially in times of struggle like the ongoing cost of living and energy crises.
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But it shouldn’t be happening at all, ever. We shouldn’t be in any encouraging people to go into politics as a way of gaining a career in television or popular culture.
Politics is serious. People are starving, freezing and dying.
Retired or not, the likes of Anne Widdecombe, George Galloway, Ed Balls and many more have appeared on the likes of Strictly Come Dancing and Big Brother, while the last Tory MP to appear on the British TV institution was former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who still remains an MP for Mid Bedfordshire.
Other members of the I’m A Celebrity 2022 cast confirmed so far include pop legend Boy George and recently retired Lionesses veteran, Jill Scott MBE.
NHS rolls out new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for first time in 20 years
Emily Sergeant
The NHS has approved a new ovarian cancer treatment for the first time in two decades.
From today, hundreds of women with ‘hard-to-treat’ ovarian cancer could benefit from a new life-extending drug on the NHS called mirvetuximab soravtansine, and it will be offered to patients living with whose disease has unfortunately stopped responding to standard chemotherapy treatments, providing them with new hope of extra time to live.
The rollout of the drug on the NHS follows a major global clinical trial involving eight NHS hospitals, which showed that the treatment delayed cancer progression and prolonged survival – with patients living 16.5 months on average compared to 12.8 months with chemotherapy.
One patient said the treatment enabled her to get on with life ‘rather than spending it in bed recovering from the side effects of chemotherapy’.
So, how does it work then?
The NHS has rolled out a new ‘life-extending’ ovarian cancer drug for the first time in 20 years / Credit: rawpixel
Well, the drug combines a ‘homing’ antibody with a cancer-killing medicine – often described by scientists as a ‘biological missile’ or ‘trojan horse’ therapy – and it works by attaching to ovarian cancer cells that have a protein called folate receptor alpha (FRα) on their surface, before releasing a cancer-killing molecule which destroys the cell from within.
The treatment is given intravenously, via a drip, over two to four hours, once every three weeks.
The drug may also have ‘more tolerable’ side effects than traditional chemotherapy, with the treatment aimed more precisely at cancer cells than chemotherapy.
The NHS estimates up to 400 patients in England each year could benefit.
“This represents the most significant breakthrough in NHS treatment for these hard-to-treat ovarian cancers in over two decades, commented Professor Ruth Plummer, who is the NHS’s national clinical lead for cancer drugs.
“We’re delighted it will now offer hundreds of women much-needed hope of precious extra time with their loved ones.
“It is part of a growing wave of more targeted cancer therapies which, by homing in on specific features of cancer cells, are helping us improve patients’ lives.”
Featured Image – Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
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Count Binface says he’ll put a £2 price cap on Wigan kebabs if he wins the Makerfield by-election
Emily Sergeant
Count Binface is officially running in the Makerfield by-election and has now shared his hilarious manifesto with the public.
Price-capped Wigan kebabs and 99p ice creams, cyclists being forced to ride unicycles if they break the Highway Code, and the renaming of HS2 to ‘FFS1’ are just some of the declarations being made by Makerfield by-election candidate, Count Binface.
In case you’re not up-to-speed on the Makerfield by-election coming up on 18 June – which was called after Labour’s Josh Simons announced he was standing down – there are now a total of 14 hopefuls set to contest the parliamentary seat.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, is by far the most well-known candidate in the running, alongside other names like Conservative’s Michael Winstanley, Liberal Democrats’ Jake Austin, the Green Party’s Sarah Wakefield, and Reform UK’s Michael Kenyon.
But Burnham is not the only big name… there’s also Count Binface too, of course.
Count Binface – previously known as Lord Buckethead – is the alias of comedian and perennial candidate, Jonathan David Harvey.
He announced his intentions to run for the Makerfield seat last month, before officially publishing his manifesto today (3 June), which includes 20 pledges – some serious, others less so… we presume.
On a more local level to the Makerfield area, if Count Binface wins the by-election, he has pledged to re-phase the traffic lights on Liverpool Road to ease congestion, increase the free parking limit at the Gerard Centre to three hours, and to make Galloways’ Full Monty Bin Lid breakfast the country’s new national dish.
And then on a more comical level – yes, even more comical than a new national dish – this is where you’ll find pledges like making sure there’s WiFi on trains that works and also ‘trains that work’ too, as well as the bringing back of Ceefax teletext for all Greater Manchester residents, and the increasing of points for tries in Rugby League from four to five ‘in line with inflation’.
Oh yeah, and there’s the promise that Count Binface will be the UK’s entrant to Eurovision in 2027, let’s not forget that.
Anyway, like we said, the Makerfield by-election is coming up on 18 June, and you can find out more information about all the candidates on the Wigan Council website here.
Danny Jones -
1st November 2022 
