Entertainment
UK ‘drops’ plans for mandatory digital ID for workers in latest U-turn
Britain is set to drop plans to make it mandatory for workers to hold a digital identity document, The Times newspaper, the BBC and other media reported on Tuesday, potentially marking another policy U-turn for the Labour government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in September last year that his government would require every employee to hold a digital ID in an attempt to tackle illegal migration and reduce the threat from the populist Reform UK party.
The government said the digital ID would be held on people’s mobile phones and become a mandatory part of checks employers must make when hiring staff.
The plan drew criticism from political opponents, with some arguing it would not deter illegal migration and others warning it could infringe on civil liberties.
The Times said the government abandoned the plan amid concerns it could undermine public trust in the scheme, noting that when introduced in 2029, digital IDs would be optional rather than mandatory.
Other forms of documentation, such as an electronic visa or passport, would still be valid, The Times said.
“We are committed to mandatory digital right to work checks,” a government spokesperson said. “We have always been clear that details on the digital ID scheme will be set out following a full public consultation which will launch shortly.”
The spokesperson said current checks rely on a “hodgepodge” of paper-based systems, with no record of whether they were ever carried out, leaving the process open to fraud and abuse.
If plans for a mandatory digital ID are dropped, it would mark another policy climbdown for Starmer.
In December, the government scaled back a plan to raise more tax from farmers, months after it backed down on cuts to welfare spending and scaled back a proposal to reduce subsidies on energy bills for the elderly.
Entertainment
Offset teases new album plans after recent shooting accident
Offset is coming back stronger after his shooting accident which altered his plans, but he still showed up – even taking the stage on a wheelchair.
The 34-year-old rapper spoke about his recovery and accident in a new interview, sharing how he kept his morale up and continued pushing himself.
“You’ve got to keep pushing like the Energizer Bunny, man. Keep this s— pushing. Don’t got time to be slowing down.” Offset told the Creators Inc. Podcast on Thursday, March 23.
Speaking about his performance mid-recovery, the Annihilate hitmaker noted, “You got to go G6 — G5, sorry. Had them bring the bed out, lay on that thing for six hours, go to sleep. You cool.”
The rapper also hinted at his new album in the same interview, saying, “I’m trying to drop soon. Couple months from now. I don’t got no date yet, but getting the creative and all s— to go together. Removing songs, making new songs, just off life because all my s— always be off of life experiences. You know what I mean? What happens in my real life, I just put it in my music.”
Despite the Florida accident, Offset shared that he maintains a “gladiator mentality” which motivates him to push forward instead of being held down by such incidents.
“The show don’t ever stop at the end of the day. I was blessed enough to be able to still move, you know what I mean? So, I’m still moving. I didn’t really have a checklist for it,” he said.
The Open It Up singer added, “I don’t want nobody feel sorry for me or no s— like that. People get shot every day, bro, like, I’m blessed. I can keep pushing, so why would I just sit down? I got to keep pushing. I got to keep going.”
Entertainment
Rob and Michele Reiner’s son, Jake, speaks out about his parents’ deaths: “My world, as I knew it, had collapsed”
Jake Reiner, son of Rob and Michele Reiner, spoke out on Friday for the first time since his parents were brutally killed in their Los Angeles home in December, detailing the moment he learned what happened.
In a post to Substack, Jake said he was at the celebration of life for one of his best friends when his sister, Romy, called to tell him that their father was dead. Moments later, he wrote, he found out his mother was also killed.
“My world, as I knew it, had collapsed. I was in a trance,” Jake said. “The only thing I could focus on was that I needed to get to my childhood home. I needed to get to my sister. I needed to figure out what the hell just happened.”
He said he then took a rideshare service from the funeral in downtown to his family’s Brentwood home, which he called “unendurable.”
“Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like to lose both parents instantly at the same time,” he wrote. “It’s too devastating to comprehend. I still wake up every morning having to convince myself that, no, it’s not a dream. This truly is my living nightmare.”
Rob and Michele were found dead with stab wounds on Dec. 14. Shortly after, their son, Nick, was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Nick was charged with two counts of murder in the first degree in a Los Angeles courtroom in February. He pleaded not guilty to both counts.
Rob Reiner, director of iconic films such as “Stand by Me” and “When Harry Met Sally…” was 78. Michele Singer Reiner, an accomplished photographer and film producer, was 70.
Jake then wrote about his grief and described his relationship with his parents. He only alluded to his brother, not mentioning his name, at the end of the more than 1,600-word post.
“We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable,” Jake wrote. “Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it. It’s almost too impossible to process. I understand that people have questions about what happened. Some of those answers will come in time. But some parts of this belong only to our family, and keeping them private is the only way to protect what little remains of something that was taken from us.”
Entertainment
Ellen Burstyn reflects on how poetry impacts her life
Ellen Burstyn, known for her Oscar-winning role in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” has spent seven decades in Hollywood, but she tells “CBS Mornings” that poetry has also shaped her life as she discusses her new book “Poetry Says It Better.”
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