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CHRISTMAS is already a distant memory for our political leaders. They have gorged themselves on one too many turkey sandwiches and swigged the last of Granny’s Baileys. The rest of us will be happy if we are able to shed our excess Christmas pounds with a few extra star jumps down the gym. But for Labour , the Tories and Reform UK , the stakes are a great deal higher. As their hangovers fade, the party leaders are turning to 2025 and their New Year resolutions . So I’ve got a few suggestions of my own. Top of the list for PM Keir Starmer must be avoiding a recession . Read More on Opinion Our economy is flatlining . High Streets , once packed with bargain-hunters shopping in the sales, are eerily quiet. Pubs are shutting early. Angry farmers blockade the streets. Rachel Reeves’ decision to drop a £40billion tax bomb in her Budget is looking more nutty than Keir Starmer’s vegetarian Christmas dinner . The PM MUST get growth going. That means slashing red tape and cutting — not hiking — taxes. Most read in The Sun Next up, Sir Keir must fix the NHS . He says tax rises are worth it to cut hospital waiting lists. Well, he had better cut them then. NHS reforms are due to be unveiled next month. These must be a game-changer. We all love the NHS, but we can’t bankrupt ourselves to pay for it. So the PM needs to slash waste, not just keep throwing billion after billion of taxpayer cash at it. Third on the PM’s to-do list should be a relationship with Donald Trump’s White House . They don’t seem ideal partners for a bromance, but who knows? A full-blown free trade deal may be too much of a tall order but the PM will need to use all of Britain’s soft power to avoid trade tariffs. Expect an invite for Trump to visit Britain and King Charles . Given the President’s love for Scotland, may I suggest laying on a few Tunnock’s tea cakes and shortbread over a cuppa at the Palace? Or, better still, Balmoral? Last but not least, Sir Keir must crack down on the Channel crisis. More than 150,000 migrants have crossed since the crisis began in 2018 . Britain can have no faith in its security if it cannot control its borders. Illegal immigration must come down. Shaking up British politics As the new Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch faces a daunting challenge in 2025. The Conservatives were once the natural party of government. But they were crushed at the last election and are hated by many. This year, Kemi needs to roll up her sleeves and thrust herself into the centre of politics if she wants to grab the attention of voters. With charismatic Nigel Farage on her right and Keir Starmer wielding a huge majority on her left, there is no time for Kemi to go quiet and spend months pondering the finer points of policy. She needs to show she can bloody her opponents. If I were her, I would attack Labour relentlessly on tax. Kemi must also show she can breathe new life — and members — into her party base. Comeback kid After all, Reform say they now have more paid-up supporters than the Tories. Comeback kid Nigel Farage had a brilliant 2024. Finally elected to parliament, the Reform UK leader has five MPs, four million votes and is the insurgent shaking up British politics, perhaps for ever. But he must not let his victories go to his head like one too many glasses of cut-price prosecco. There is chatter that Elon Musk will donate £80million to Reform. But talk is cheap, and Farage needs to bank that cheque. With his pal Trump in the White House, Farage is offering to be a helpful middle man between the new President and No10. Keir should consider taking him up on this offer if it helps Britain avoid crippling US trade tariffs. The year 2025 looks set to be quite a ride for our political leaders. They should buckle up. THE Guinness shortage is real. I popped into my local on Friday night only to discover they had run out. The barmaid said they had run dry over Christmas, telling me: “There is a national shortage, you know.” A group of lads were also aghast that their favourite tipple was off. What else should they order, they wondered aloud. In the end one went for a G&T. I didn’t see that coming. DRAGON DEBORAH TO FIRE UP RACE FOR MAYOR? DRAGONS’ Den star Deborah Meaden is in the frame to be Labour’s next candidate for London Mayor. Sadiq Khan is widely expected to stand down when he finishes his current term – and the unofficial race to succeed him is already under way. Labour MPs Dawn Butler and Dr Rosena Allin-Khan have their eyes on the job – which Boris Johnson did before becoming PM. But I’m told some party insiders are keen for a big-hitter away from Westminster and want the TV Dragon as their candidate. A senior Labour Party source said: “Deborah’s name is being talked about. “She has star power and business know-how, and she is close to Rachel Reeves.” Deborah ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business before finding fame on the hit BBC TV show. She has posted several messages on Twitter/X which are supportive of Labour and the Chancellor. In one, she defended Ms Reeves over accusations the Labour politician had sexed up her CV. In another she praised Ms Reeves for “getting on with it” by appointing a commissioner to investigate Covid corruption. Labour may be pitching hard for Deborah to be their woman in City Hall. But it remains to be seen if the telly star will invest – or tell them: “I’m out”. FOOTIE A FAMILY AFFAIR I READ that Prince Louis is an Aston Villa fan like his dad, Prince William . There is nothing unusual about that – most kids “inherit” their football team from their mum or dad or siblings. But not me. We grew up in North London – bang on the border between Tottenham and Arsenal territory. Yet I wanted to copy my brother who was a Man United fan. But my brother said no. Instead he told me I could support his second-favourite team – Ipswich Town . Being the eager younger sibling, I agreed. I even got an Ipswich Town scarf for my Christmas present and named my pet goldfish (won at the local fair) John Wark, after the team’s legendary midfielder. After a couple of years I clocked that my brother actually had no interest in Ipswich Town and the whole thing had been a wind-up on me. I gave up Ipswich Town and joined most of my classmates in supporting Arsenal instead. I think I still have the scarf somewhere though . . . COMMON TRAITS . . . THE Traitors is all about deception, betrayal and backstabbing. So it should come as no surprise that a high-flying Labour Party staffer applied to go on the TV show. The party aide thought his experience in the dark arts of political spin would make him the ideal contestant. An insider said: “Politics is all about shifting alliances and being able to plunge the knife when you need to. It is the ideal training ground for The Traitors.” But it seems that the treachery and skullduggery of Westminster was too much for BBC bosses to stomach. The Labour Party aide did not get a spot on the show. Well, who would trust a politico who said they are “100 per cent faithful”? PRICE POSSE NEED LIMITS WE have all seen them in our local supermarket – aisle lurkers who wait for the shop assistant with the yellow stickers to discount the food. Before you know it, they have nabbed all the best cut-price gear. Mouth-watering steaks, lamb chops and posh bangers are scooped up in the blink of an eye and you are left with a manky old tub of coleslaw and some half-price runner beans. I fell foul of another type of aisle-lurker the other day – the half-price Itsu one. The High Street sushi chain flogs all its fresh food at half price 30 minutes before closing time. I go every Saturday night when I work late, so I can get a posh sushi meal for a fiver. Last week I arrived bang on time only to find the aisles barren. At the checkout there was a man with a massive bag of sushi swag in it. He must have picked up 20 platters of the stuff. It was enough to feed the five thousand! Turns out there is no limit to how many half-price Itsus you can buy. I left, hungry and disappointed. Now I love a bargain as much as the next girl, but should there be a limit to how many discounts an aisle-lurker can bag? NEW Year’s Eve is nearly here and that means fireworks . Cities around the world will light up with dazzling displays as people see in 2025 with a bang. But a friend of mine has had to ditch his New Year’s Eve fireworks display because a neighbour complained it scares her horses. Of course people love their pets, and some animals get spooked by loud noises. But fireworks are a great tradition and are only let off on New Year’s Eve or Bonfire night. And the occasional wedding. Live and let live. READ MORE SUN STORIES Let us firework lovers enjoy the one or two days a year we can let them off. You can mollycoddle your pets all year round!
None(The Center Square) – Legislators in Washington, D.C., have taken a number of steps over the past few days to push for insurance and pharmaceutical reforms to be passed before the end of the year. On Wednesday, a bicameral group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers held a press conference discussing the need for pharmacy benefit manager reform to protect small pharmacies across the country and “save lives.” “Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or an independent, we all want the same thing. We want accessible, affordable, quality health care,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. “We’re not here today to just discuss one bill or to discuss just one patient’s story. We're here because there's broad, bipartisan pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM, reform that is needed to save lives.” Pharmacy benefit managers are the middlemen responsible for managing the drug prices covered by health insurance plans. According to the Harvard Political Review , the problem with pharmacy benefit managers is that they “have vertically integrated with pharmacy chains and health insurers through massive conglomerates.” That then allows them to abuse their power to cut out small pharmacies and increase prices. Carter also signed a letter that was released last week calling on the Department of Justice to dig into the role pharmacy benefit managers played in the opioid epidemic. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Deborah Ross, D-N.C., and Cliff Benz, R-Ore., all joined him in signing that letter. More from this section “The opioid crisis has devastated communities in North Carolina and across the country, and PBMs may have fueled it by prioritizing profits over people,” Ross said on social media . “That’s why I joined a letter calling on the DOJ to investigate their role and hold these bad actors accountable.” The letter looked at recent reports on the largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx which state that they “colluded and conspired to steer patients towards OxyContin in exchange for $400 million.” OxyContin is a trade name for the narcotic oxycodone hydrochloride, a painkiller available by prescription only. This and the general “lack of transparency” is just one of the many complaints that legislators aired on Wednesday. “My colleagues who are joining me today, Democrats and Republicans ... all recognize that PBMs are decreasing the accessibility, the affordability, and therefore the quality of health care in America,” Carter said. “We have an opportunity, right now, to advance bipartisan legislation that increases reporting requirements, which would heighten transparency and shine a light on the opaque practices of these PBMs.” Carter was also joined by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who is leading the effort to get legislation passed in the U.S. Senate. “This year, we're losing about one pharmacy a day in America,” Lankford said. “We want leadership to be able to take this up and to bring it up in the end-of-year package ... Stop holding up legislation that is bipartisan, bicameral, and solving a problem that Americans need solved.”
GALIANO GOLD ANNOUNCES BUYOUT OF OFFTAKE AGREEMENT“Barbenheimer” was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn’t stopped people from trying to make “Glicked” — or even “Babyratu” — happen. The counterprogramming of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office. This combination of images shows promotional art for "Gladiator II," left, and "Wicked." And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, “Saw Patrol” ). This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation “Wicked” opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic “Gladiator II.” Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: “Wickiator,” “Wadiator,” “Gladwick” and even the eyebrow raising “Gladicked” have all been suggested. “'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more,” actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of “Gladiator II” this week. “I think we should all band around ‘Glicked.’ It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it.” As with “Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, “Glicked” also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging muscles. Both films topped Fandango’s most anticipated holiday movie survey, where 65% of respondents said that they were interested in the “Glicked” double feature. Theaters big and small are also pulling out the stops with movie-themed tie-ins. B&B Theaters will have Roman guards tearing tickets at some locations and Maximus popcorn tubs. Marcus Theaters is doing Oz photo ops and friendship bracelet-making. Alamo Drafthouse is leaning into the singalong aspect (beware, though, not all theaters are embracing this) and the punny drinks like “Defying Gravi-Tea.” This image released by Universal Pictures shows Cynthia Erivo, left, and Ariana Grande in a scene from the film "Wicked." “Rather than it being in competition, I think they’re in conversation,” “Gladiator II” star Paul Mescal said. “This industry needs a shot in the arm. Those films gave it last year. We hope to do it this year.” And the hope is that audiences will flock to theaters to be part of this moment as well. It's a sorely needed influx of could-be blockbusters into a marketplace that's still at an 11% deficit from last year and down 27.2% from 2019, according to data from Comscore. “Competition is good for the marketplace. It’s good for consumers,” said Michael O'Leary, the president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. “Having two great movies coming out at the same time is simply a multiplier effect.” “Glicked” is currently tracking for a combined North American debut in the $165 million range, with “Wicked” forecast to earn around $100 million (up from the $80 million estimates a few weeks ago) and “Gladiator II” pegged for the $65 million range. “Barbenheimer” shattered its projections last July. Going into that weekend, “Barbie” had been pegged for $90 million and “Oppenheimer” around $40 million. Ultimately, they brought in a combined $244 million in that first outing, and nearly $2.4 billion by the end of their runs. It’s possible “Glicked” will exceed expectations, too. And it has the advantage of another behemoth coming close behind: “Moana 2,” which opens just five days later on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday. “Glickedana” triple feature anyone? This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Pedro Pascal, left, and Paul Mescal in a scene from "Gladiator II." “These are 10 important days,” O'Leary said. “It’s going to show the moviegoing audience that there’s a lot of compelling stuff out there for them to see.” There are infinite caveats to the imperfect comparison to “Barbenheimer,” as well. “Wicked” is a “Part One.” Musicals carry their own baggage with moviegoers, even those based on wildly successful productions (ahem, “Cats”). “Gladiator II” got a head start and opened internationally last weekend. In fact, in the U.K. it played alongside “Paddington in Peru,” where that double was pegged “Gladdington.” “Gladiator” reviews, while positive, are a little more divided than the others. And neither directors Ridley Scott nor Jon M. Chu has the built-in box office cache that Christopher Nolan’s name alone carries at the moment. The new films also cost more than “Barbie” ($145 million) and “Oppenheimer” ($100 million). According to reports, “Gladiator II” had a $250 million price tag; “Wicked” reportedly cost $150 million to produce (and that does not include the cost of the second film, due next year). The narrative, though, has shifted away from “who will win the weekend.” Earlier this year, Chu told The Associated Press that he loves that this is a moment where “we can root for all movies all the time.” Close behind are a bevy of Christmas releases with double feature potential, but those feel a little more niche. There’s the remake of “Nosferatu,” the Nicole Kidman kink pic “Babygirl” and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” The internet can’t even seem to decide on its angle for that batch of contenders, and none exactly screams blockbuster. Sometimes the joy is just in the game, however. Some are sticking with the one-name mashup (“Babyratu”); others are suggesting that the fact that two of the movies feature real-life exes (Timothée Chalamet and Lily-Rose Depp) is enough reason for a double feature. And getting people talking is half the battle. When in doubt, or lacking a catchy name, there’s always the default: “This is my Barbenheimer.” Associated Press journalist John Carucci and Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed reporting. Last summer, Malibu's iconic blonde faced off against Cillian Murphy and the hydrogen bomb in the unforgettable "Barbenheimer" double feature. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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