⏳ Monday Fix: Macron, not Marine
Morning all,
Emmanuel Macron has won five more years in office, Piers Morgan premieres on a new network, and Elon Musk has - once again - got everyone tweeting.
Until tomorrow,
Your Fixers
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MORE MACRON
French President Emmanuel Macron has comfortably won a second term in office, winning 58.5% of the vote against his opponent, Marine Le Pen.
Macron will now serve for another five years - the first French president to win re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002. Chirac actually won in a landslide at the time against Marine Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie.
That being said, Macron did acknowledge that a considerable amount of the electorate would have voted for him "not because they support my ideas, but to block those of the extreme right". BBC News noted the voter turnout was the lowest since 1969.
Worth noting: While it was a decisive victory, The Irish Times described Le Pen winning 41.5% of the vote as "unprecedented for the extreme right-wing".
UKRAINE - WHAT'S THE LATEST?
Sunday marked two months since the war in Ukraine began.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv on Sunday. Following the visit, The Washington Post reported the US "will resume diplomatic operations" in Ukraine this week - for the first time since the war began. Here is an excellent summary by Axios on the key newslines from that visit.
Also, a Russian missile has left one man in Odessa grappling with the tragic loss of his infant daughter, wife and mother. As BBC News noted, five others were killed in the attack, with President Zelensky describing those responsible as "bastards".
ON TODAY'S AGENDA...
Piers Morgan's new show premieres on Talk TV - Rupert Murdoch's new channel - at 8pm later today with what appears to be an explosive interview with former US president, Donald Trump.
The trailer - below - appears to indicate Trump walked out of the interview, something he denies.
"Piers Morgan, like the rest of the Fake News Media, attempted to unlawfully and deceptively edit his long and tedious interview with me." - Donald Trump
What is Talk TV? As The Guardian pointed out, most of the day it will be airing video footage of talkRadio. There will be three hours of television each evening.
"The evening schedule consists of Morgan’s flagship 8pm show, sandwiched between a warm-up political debate hosted by former Sun political editor Tom Newton Dunn and a celebrity panel show similar to Loose Women, hosted by Sharon Osbourne." - context from The Guardian
Not interested in watching the interview? in that case, we would highly recommend a BBC docuseries - The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty. It is absolutely fascinating. Trailer 👇🏽.
UK POLITICS...
An article over the weekend accusing Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner of using 'Basic Instinct' tactics against the prime minister, has been condemned across the political spectrum.
The article was widely considered both misogynistic and classist, and suggested Rayner tries to distract the prime minister in the House of Commons by crossing and uncrossing her legs.
Why? Well, it says Rayner "knows she can't compete with Boris's Oxford Union debating training". The piece then goes on to describe Rayner as "a grandmother who left school at 16 while pregnant and with no qualifications before becoming a care worker".
Prime Minister Johnson tweeted his criticism of the article, saying;
"As much as I disagree with Angela Rayner on almost every political issue I respect her as a parliamentarian and deplore the misogyny directed at her anonymously today". - Prime Minister Johnson's tweet
Interestingly, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries tweeted the exact same statement. Word for word.
Remember the long-awaited Sue Gray report into the restriction-breaking gatherings at Downing Street?
Well, still no exact date for its release, but The Times has a report suggesting its findings will leave the prime minister under intense pressure to resign. A "senior official familiar with its contents" allegedly described the report as "damning" and "excoriating" for Johnson.
Worth noting: Prime Minister Johnson is understood to have attended at least six of the twelve gatherings being investigated, and has already received one fine from the Metropolitan Police.
Conservative MP Jamie Wallis has spoken on camera about his experience of being raped, saying part of him "died" when it happened.
“I met someone that I liked and things started off quite well actually. Then I was not OK with not being what I consider to be responsible and practice safety in the bedroom and so I withdrew consent and then there was … then he just decided that he was going to do it anyway and I was powerless to stop him.” - Wallis speaking to Sky News
Wallis - who in late March said he intends to transition in the future and live his life as a woman - is understood to be the first British MP to announce they are trans. It makes for an interesting interview.
KEEPING AN EYE...
According to multiple media reports, Twitter began negotiations with Elon Musk on Sunday about a possible acquisition.
Earlier this month, it was revealed Musk wanted to buy 100% of Twitter and privatise it, weeks after he purchased a 9.2% stake in the company and declined to join its board.
"Shareholders pushed Twitter to hold talks after Musk outlined a detailed financing plan for his bid on Thursday and urged it not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away. Musk’s insistence that he was making his “best and final” bid was a hurdle in negotiations, the sources said, but the board had decided to engage with Musk to gather more information and potentially get better terms." - Context from The Guardian
CNN had a very helpful and easy to read article on this.
MOST READ
- BBC News: Newspaper headlines: Macron re-elected and "Tory rebels plot to oust PM"
- The Guardian: Victorious Macron vows to unite France after fending off Le Pen threat
- The Financial Times: Putin abandons hopes of Ukraine deal and shifts to land-grab strategy
- Al Jazeera: Blinken, Austin pledge more military aid, return of US diplomats
- The Irish Times: Una Mullally: What should we do when Senators go too far?
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
In a special Sunday edition of NewsFix, we announced that this fabulous journey will be coming to an end this Friday, April 29. Thank you for all of the messages - we are overwhelmed by the lovely support we've received, brings a tear to the eye!
ON A LIGHTER NOTE...
Good old Whitney.
