More than 700,000 people and counting have put their names to a petition calling for a general election to be held immediately in a bid to “end the chaos”.
The petition in question – which has been set up on the official parliament.uk petitions platform – comes after Liz Truss stepped down from her role as leader of the Conservative Party yesterday in what was a history-making move, and officially made her the shortest-serving Prime Minister in the history of the UK after only being in office for just 44 days.
During Truss‘s 44 days as leader, following a takeover from outgoing PM Boris Johnson on 5 September 2022, her time in offer was turbulent – to say the least.
She was elected during an ongoing cost of living crisis and an energy supply crisis, in which her government – and the former Chancellor she sacked six days before her resignation, Kwasi Kwarteng – implemented an Energy Price Guarantee that limited energy prices for households, businesses, and public sector organisations.
Her government also announced large-scale borrowing and various tax cuts in a mini-budget unveiled on 23 September – which was poorly received, and the subject of major backlash from all sides, and went on to cause economic chaos and see the value of the pound plummet.
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Truss’s time in office also saw the death and state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which means 10 whole days of her leadership were spent in a period of unprecedented national mourning.
So perhaps turbulent is putting it likely?
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Liz Truss resigned as leader of the Conservative Party and stepped down as PM on 20 October 2022 / Credit: 10 Downing Street
With all of that drama unfolding in just 44 days, on top of everything that has already happened in the world of politics this year, it’s probably not that surprising to learn of the fact that a petition calling for a general election to be held immediately has gone on to become one of the most popular petitions to ever to appear on parliament.uk.
The petition wants to “to end the chaos of the current government”.
“Call an immediate general election so that the people can decide who should lead us through the unprecedented crises threatening the UK,” the petition’s call-to-action reads.
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“The chaos engulfing the UK government is unprecedented. Over 40 ministers resigned leaving departments without leadership during cost of living, energy and climate crises. War rages in Ukraine, the Northern Ireland Protocol has further damaged our relationship with Europe, recession looms; the UK itself may cease to exist as Scotland seeks independence.
“This is the greatest set of challenges we have seen in our lifetimes.”
More than 700,000 have signed a petition calling for immediate general election / Credit: Conservative Party | Labour Party
Ultimately, the creator of the petition is calling on the government to “let the people decide who leads us through this turmoil” – and dozens of people every minute appear to agree with this.
Given that the petition already has more than 732,000 signatures and is rapidly gaining more every minute, it’s expected that it could hit the one million mark some time in the near future – which is a feat not many public petitions achieve.
Addressing the popularity of the petition, a government spokesperson said in response: “The UK is a Parliamentary democracy and the Conservative Party remains the majority party. The Prime Minister has pledged to ensure opportunity and prosperity for all people and future generations, and a change in the leader of the governing party does not trigger a general election.
“This has been the case under governments of successive political colours… and remains the case.”
Will we ever get a general election though? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Featured Image – gov.uk
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Manchester City reveal trailer for upcoming Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary
Danny Jones
Man City have revealed the first trailer for their new Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary, charting the course of their record-breaking four consecutive Premier League titles.
The follow-up to the Together: Treble Winners series, City‘s highly-anticipated documentary dropped earlier this year following their historic 2023/23 season, the movie will follow the same concept and relive the Manchester club’s latest unprecedented feat from 20/21 onwards.
While the previous TV outing was picked up by Netflix, the latest instalment is set to arrive at the end of this month exclusively on CITY+.
You can see the trailer for Together: 4-In-A-Row down below:
The new Man City documentary will feature exclusive interviews with manager extraordinaire, Pep Guardiola, Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League-winning goalscorer Rodri, club captain Kyle Walker and many more.
There will also be footage including soon-to-depart Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as well as the City Football Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano.
Swapping the series format for a feature-length film this time, this is arguably CITY+‘s biggest release to date, with the content subscription service typically offering full match replays, youth academy coverage, as well as smaller documentaries and podcasts.
The streaming service (accessible via the website, Man City app and smart TVs) was only started back in 2024 but now four years later, rather fittingly, it’s set to document the most important years in the club’s history.
We’ve seen multiple Man City docs in recent years – their 2018 All Or Nothing Amazon Prime Video mini-series being the first – but the launch of the Together franchise back in April has helped put City Studios, on the map.
The in-house entertainment arm, first set up in 2022, has even more ambitious plans for the coming years, with a huge deal to create multiple big-budget productions in collaboration with Sony.
Fans are getting even more behind-the-scenes content soon.
Gavin Johnson, Media Director at CFG, said of the trailer reveal: “We’re delighted to announce the release of our latest offering in the ‘Together’ collection.
“Produced once again by our award-winning in-house production and creative hub, City Studios, the documentary film offers our fans a true insight into the team and how they achieved the historic four-in-a-row success.”
Set to be released at 6pm UK time on 20 November, Together: 4-In-A-Row will only be able to watch via the CITY+ platform.
So, if you’re a Blue who wants to relive the last four years of non-stop silverware, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £4.99 a month. An annual subscription can be purchased for £34.99 a year or for £30 with an Official Cityzens membership/season ticket.
Davina McCall asks fans to ‘say a prayer’ as she undergoes brain surgery
Daisy Jackson
Davina McCall has revealed she is undergoing surgery for a ‘quite big’ brain tumour.
The presenter and TV personality has shared a video on Instagram via her partner Michael Douglas updating fans on her diagnosis and asking them to ‘say a prayer’.
Davina, 57, said that the benign brain tumour was discovered during a health scan which she ‘thought she was going to ace’.
The 14mm colloid cyst tumour is rare, with only three in a million diagnoses, and ‘needs to come out because if it grows it would be bad’, she said in the pre-recorded video.
Michael shared the video to say that his partner would be ‘off grid’ while she recovers, adding: “She is in great shape and in very good hands.
“I’ll do the odd update from her account here for anyone interested. I’m sure she’ll read all the comments when she’s able to so feel free to send love. The support of people is amazingly powerful. Have a great day everyone. Michael xxx”
It’s expected that she will need to spend at least nine days in hospital following the surgery, a craniotomy that involves removing part of the skull to access the brain to take out the cyst.
Davina said in a video where she’s smiling bravely througout: “I’m handing the reins over to my surgeon, he knows what he’s doing and I’m going to do the getting better bit after. I’ll see you on the other side.”
Emily Sergeant -
21st October 2022 
