During her reign, Elizabeth II served as Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth – undertaking an important symbolic and unifying role as a head of state, spanning numerous geographical regions, cultures, and religions.
She was not just the longest-reigning British monarch in history, but she was also the first-ever monarch to reign in the UK for 70 years, and was beloved by many for her sense of duty and devotion to her role.
The confirmation of HM The Queen’s passing comes after the public was informed by Buckingham Palace earlier yesterday that she was “under medical supervision” at Balmoral after her doctors had become “concerned for Her Majesty’s health”.
Several notable moments have already taken place since HM The Queen’s passing.
This includes her eldest son becoming King Charles III, a speech delivered by newly-appointed Prime Minister Liz Truss, and tributes paid by leaders across the globe.
HRH Queen Elizabeth II has died aged 96 / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
His statement, shared by Buckingham Palace, said: “The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth and by countless people around the world.
“During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.”
A state of mourning has officially begun across the country, which is set to remain until the HM The Queen’s funeral is held.
The national mourning period is expected to last for 10-12 days.
As confirmed by Buckingham Palace, King Charles III and his Queen Consort Camilla will return to London from Balmoral – with the monarch then due to hold his first audience with Prime Minister Liz Truss shortly after.
King Charles III is expected to meet the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk – who is in charge of the Queen’s funeral – to approve the schedule for the coming days, and he will decide on the length of court or royal mourning for members of the Royal Family and other royal households.
In the evening, His Majesty is expected to address the nation in a televised speech, where he will pay tribute to his mother and pledge to serve as head of state.
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The House of Commons and the Houses of Parliament are due to gather at noon.
HM Queen Elizabeth II passed away “peacefully” at Balmoral on Thursday 8 September 2022 / Credit: Charles Fred (via Flickr)
The government is not expected to announce any other business today – unless anything urgent occurs – to allow the focus to fall entirely on the HM The Queen until 10pm.
Prime Minister Liz Truss and several senior government ministers will also attend a public service of remembrance at St Paul’s Cathedral in London today, and following this, the government is then due to confirm the length of national mourning – which is likely to be up to 12 days in total, from now up to the day after the Queen’s funeral.
The government will also announce that the day of HM The Queen’s funeral will be a public holiday in the form of a Day of National Mourning.
Then, on Saturday morning, an Accession Council will meet at St James’s Palace in London to formally-proclaim Charles as the new sovereign.
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The first public proclamation of the new sovereign will then be read in the open air from the Friary Court balcony at St James’s Palace by the Garter King of Arms.
A period of national mourning has now begun following the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II / Credit: Adrian Harlen (via Crown Copywright)
How will HM Queen Elizabeth II’s death be marked in Manchester?
Manchester City Council has confirmed that the city of Manchester will be observing the official 10-day mourning period.
The flag on Central Library has been lowered to half-mast as a mark of respect to the HM Queen Elizabeth II.
This will remain in place up to 8am on the day after the State Funeral takes place.
The Queen’s Books of Condolence will be opened from today in Central Library, and this will be open to visitors from 9am – 6pm daily, until the day following the funeral – with the Council confirming that further information on the funeral will be announced “as soon as we have received confirmation of the details”.
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Manchester shares its deepest condolences with the Royal Family today following the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The Union Flag on Manchester Central Library will be flown at half mast for ten days of national mourning. pic.twitter.com/YRIe4zsKhA
Manchester City Council has also invited residents who may wish to lay flowers to mark HM The Queen’s death can do so in St Ann’s Square in the city centre, and asks that anyone doing so removes any plastic/cellophane wrappings and anything that is non-biodegradable from the flowers.
This will ensure that, when collected, all of the flowers can be composted.
For the residents who wish to make a donation to one of HM The Queen’s many patronages, a list of organisations and information on how those donations can be made has been compiled at – www.royal.uk/her-majesty-the-queen.
More arrangements are expected to be announced once further details are confirmed.
Manchester United reject offers for Mason Greenwood as rep says he ‘should be allowed to move forward with his young life’
Danny Jones
Manchester United have reportedly rejected a number of offers for Mason Greenwood as the club continues their internal investigation into his behaviour.
The club have reportedly received a number of offers for the young forward from Turkish teams in recent weeks and months while Greenwood has been suspended from playing or training. He has yet to return to the sport after charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm were dropped.
The charges handed down in January 2022 were ultimately dropped last month when key witnesses withdrew, more than a year on from the incident that was widely circulated on social media.
Now, following a behind-the-scenes feature by The Athletic and ‘new material’ leading the Crown Prosecution Service to drop the case for the foreseeable, it seems United are now the only party still investigating Greenwood, with his own team and figures around the club pushing for a resolution.
▪️ Police spoke to #MUFC about Greenwood during lockdown ▪️ Senior staff offered guidance but no specialists brought in ▪️ Man United have rejected offers from Turkish sides as internal investigation continues
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 27, 2023
Speaking to Laurie Whitwell as part of the piece, one of Greenwood’s representatives argued that there is “no real substance” to the allegations, them “a mix of old news, speculation, half-truths and completely untrue claims.”
He went on to say, “Mason is 21, he has been cleared and should be allowed the opportunity to rebuild and move forward with his young life.”
Another source is also said to have told the outlet that the youngster has been fundamentally changed by the experience, insisting that he “would run through a brick wall” to be back playing at United.
As for the club’s stance, it remains to be seen what their final decision on his future will be, but it was reported earlier this month that a potential return is still “firmly under consideration” and his number 11 shirt has not yet been vacated as many would have expected if he was set to move on.
His potential ‘phased return’ could include everything from therapy to a TV interview.https://t.co/DTisidvpRr
On the other hand, the article goes on to detail questions surrounding Greenwood’s conduct and general attitude during his relatively short time as a senior player too, the suggestion being that he was slacking in training because “he knew he was a good player”.
His attendance at Carrington is said to have been raised as an issue on more than one occasion and then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær often covered for training sessions and games he missed after failing to turn up to the team hotel for “unexplained absences”.
Another source who watched him play aged just 16 also went on to reveal that Bradford-born academy product “wasn’t shy about telling someone they were s***”, apparently even calling out Cristiano Ronaldo as “dead [finished]” when he was still at Real Madrid.
Greenwood played over 100 senior games for United and was widely considered one of the brightest young prospects in England, let alone the club, but the career trajectory he looked to be on is widely different from the problematic position he finds himself in now, regardless of any offers from abroad.
Led By Donkeys fool MPs into revealing ridiculous £10,000 daily rate in fake job interviews
Danny Jones
British political campaign group, Led By Donkeys, have once again taken aim at the Conservative government, managing to fool multiple MPs by putting them through fake job interviews.
The campaigners hatched the plan to see just how easy it is to ‘hire an MP’, with Tory politicians having been criticised for earning an additional £15.2 million in added income from ‘second jobs’ since 2019 alone — that’s on top of their already £80k-a-year salaries, of course.
So, after setting up a fake consultancy firm based out of Seoul, South Korea called Hanseong Consulting and inviting along a number of MPs, many of whom either previously held or currently sit in senior party positions, they began holding Zoom interviews with the various candidates to see if they’d be interested.
More importantly, however, the crucial question was “how much would they want to be paid?”. The likes of former Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng had very simple but nevertheless astounding answers:
🚨MPs FOR HIRE: a Led By Donkeys undercover investigation🚨
As you can see in the trailer for the full mini-documentary, both the former health secretary and the ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer quoted their day rate as up to £10,000.
In fact, Hancock broke down his figures even further, insisting that an hourly rate would equate to “around £1,500”. Wonder how that sizes up to the fee he was paid to be on I’m A Celeb? (yes, that wasn’t a fever dream, it really happened). We’ll let you do the nauseating maths on that one.
Other Tories who were duped into putting themselves forward for the made-up job included Gavin Williamson, Stephen Hammond and the Chairman of the party’s 1922 Committee (a private members group known to influencers backbenchers), Sir Graham Brady.
Well, they were the only ‘candidates’ to have issued statements after the fact trying to play down the story, anyway. The campaigners approached 20 different MPs under the guise of the fabricated company, with other individuals dropping out in more preliminary stages.
After having asked for £60k a year on top of his £48k annual salary as the representative for Manc constituency Altrincham and Sale West, this would have been Brady’s fourth job besides his two marketing and comms advisory roles, but assured he would always act “within the Code of Conduct”.
Hammond had more to say on the matter, responding that “scamming is an unpleasant activity undertaken with malicious intent”, while Hancock’s office responded by labelling it a “failed attempt at entrapment” and insisted he is free to look at “exploratory options” as he is set to stand down as an MP.
Led By Donkeys are now in the process of gradually releasing each one of the fake job interviews in full on their YouTube channel.
Emily Sergeant -
9th September 2022 
