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JUST IN: Oscar-winning UK Actress Turned MP Glenda Is Dead

Published

2 years ago

June 15, 2023

British actress Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar-winning actress who went on to become an MP, died on Thursday at the age of 87, her agent said.

Lionel Larner said Jackson “died peacefully at her home in Blackheath London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side”.

“She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” he added.

The film tells the true story of a World War II veteran who escaped his care home to attend a commemoration of the D-Day landings in France.

Jackson won the Best Actress Oscar in 1970 for her leading performance in Ken Russell’s film adaptation of author D.H. Lawrence’s novel “Women in Love”.

She won it again in 1973 for her role in “A Touch of Class”, in which she played a woman falling in love with the man with whom she is having an affair.

Despite her status as a formidable actress, she frequently showed her lighter side with appearances on popular British comedy series the “Morecambe and Wise Show”.

Jackson was elected as a Labour MP for her local London constituency of Hampstead and Highgate in 1992, and served as a transport minister in Tony Blair’s government between 1997 and 1999.

Alastair Campbell, Blair’s influential press chief in government, called her “one of the finest actresses of our lifetime”.

“I sometimes felt she found the transition to politics harder than she expected. But a great life well lived,” he tweeted.

– ‘Formidable’ –

Tulip Siddiq, the current Labour MP serving Jackson’s former constituency, called her a “formidable politician” and a “very supportive mentor”.

“Devastated to hear that my predecessor Glenda Jackson has died,” she tweeted.

Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman, David Lammy, called her “a principled campaigner for the arts and social justice and always down to earth, fearless, outspoken and Labour to her core”.

Jackson also advised Labour’s Ken Livingstone when he was London mayor on housing policy and campaigned against homelessness in the capital from 2000 to 2004.

Jackson was born on May 9, 1936, in Birkenhead, a small port town near Liverpool, northwest England, to a bricklayer and a cleaning lady.

At 16 she went to work in a chemist’s shop, doing amateur dramatics in her spare time.

When she was 18 she won a scholarship to the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Jackson stepped down as an MP in 2015, and returned to the stage after an absence of 23 years for a rare gender-swapping role in a London production of “King Lear” in 2016.

In 2018, aged 82, she won her first Tony — the equivalent of the Oscars for theatre — for best actress in “Three Tall Women” and a year alter reprised the role of “King Lear” in Broadway for a performance The New York Times described as “powerful and deeply perceptive”.

Jackson was married to actor Roy Hodges from 1958 to 1976. Their son Dan Hodges is a political columnist.

In 1978 she was made a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

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Netanyahu Says Israel’s Strikes On Iran Have ‘Clear Support’ Of Trump

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel’s air strikes on Iran had the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.

“Our enemy is your enemy… We’re dealing with something that will threaten all of us sooner or later. Our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu said in a video statement addressed to Trump on the US leader’s birthday.

“This is what Israel is doing with the support, the clear support of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the American people and many others in the world.”

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US Lawmaker Shot Dead, Another Wounded In Targeted Attack

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

A gunman shot two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota early Saturday, killing one and her husband and wounding the other, in what the northern US state’s governor said were politically motivated attacks.

The shootings came at a moment of deep political divisions in the United States, as thousands took to the streets in protest at the policies of Republican President Donald Trump.

The suspected assailant was still at large, officials said, with a massive manhunt underway.

Trump and US Attorney General Pam Bondi decried what they called “horrific violence” and said the perpetrators would be prosecuted to “the fullest extent of the law.”

State representative Melissa Hortman — the former speaker — and her husband Mark were killed at their home near Minneapolis, Governor Tim Walz told a press conference.

State senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot and wounded, the governor said, his voice breaking with emotion. He said officials remained “cautiously optimistic” they would recover.

“This was an act of targeted political violence,” Walz told reporters.

“Peaceful discourse is the foundation of our democracy. We don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.”

Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said Hoffman and his wife were shot first, and as police investigated, Hortman and her husband were shot about 90 minutes later.

The suspected gunman was able to escape during an exchange of gunfire with officers near Hortman’s residence, Evans told reporters.

“We’re actively searching for that individual right now,” he said.

– Impersonating law enforcement –

In both cases, authorities believe the assailant was impersonating a law enforcement officer.

“The suspect exploited the trust that our uniform is meant to represent,” said Bob Jacobson, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

An anti-Trump rally in Minneapolis — part of the national wave of “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday — was canceled after police issued a shelter-in-place order because of the shootings.

Flyers for the protests were found in the suspect’s car, as well as a manifesto that named numerous politicians and state officials, police said.

Police are looking for a white man with brown hair, wearing black body armor over a blue shirt and blue pants, local TV station KSTP said.

“We do have the suspect’s car. Suspect is on foot,” said Mark Bruley, the police chief in Brooklyn Park, where Hortman lived.

The United States has been deeply divided since Trump returned to the White House in January.

The Republican president has drawn criticism from Democrats over his harsh deportation policy, his assault on universities and the media and a perceived flouting of limits on executive power as he pushes his agenda.

“At this precipice moment we’re on, this tragic act here in Minnesota should serve as a reminder to all of us,” Walz said.

“The democracy and the debates in the halls of Congress, in state houses, in school boards, is a way to settle our differences peacefully and move society to a better place.”

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar remembered Hortman as a friend who entered politics at the same time as her and dedicated her life to serving the state, working on issues such as women’s rights and clean energy.

“Let me be absolutely clear: this was an act of targeted political violence, and it was an attack on everything we stand for as a democracy,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “We must all condemn it.”

Minnesota’s other US senator, Tina Smith, also issued a statement condemning the shootings.

Former House member Gabby Giffords, who survived a shooting to the head in 2011 and is now a prominent advocate for the prevention of gun violence, described herself as “devastated” by the death of Hortman.

“We must protect our democracy from those who try to destroy it with a gun,” Giffords wrote on X.

Headline

Diplomat, Wife Injured In Iran Strikes On Tel Aviv

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Editor

Croatia’s consul in Israel and his wife were lightly injured in Iran’s missile strikes on Tel Aviv, Croatia’s Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on Saturday.

“I am shaken by the news that our consul and his wife were injured in the attack on Tel Aviv. The building they live in was hit,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“I spoke with them and, fortunately, their injuries are minor and they are not in any life-threatening condition.”

Grlic Radman added that his ministry was in constant contact with the Croatian embassy in Israel and was taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of its staff.

“We strongly condemn attacks on civilians and diplomatic facilities. We call for immediate de-escalation and restraint,” Grlic Radman said.

Israel on Friday launched an unprecedented attack on Iran, hitting scores of targets across the country, including nuclear and military sites and residential buildings.

Iran said 78 people were killed and 320 wounded in the first wave of Israeli strikes.

Iran retaliated with barrages of drones and missiles at Israel, killing three people and wounding dozens.

AFP