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      David Lynch of ‘Twin Peaks’ Says He Has Emphysema

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      The director, 78, confirmed the diagnosis in a social media post after revealing in a magazine interview that he would be limited to directing remotely.David Lynch, co-creator of the groundbreaking series “Twin Peaks” and director of “Mulholland Drive” and “Blue Velvet,” said on Monday that he had emphysema but that he would not retire.Mr. Lynch, 78, confirmed the diagnosis in a social media post after revealing it in an interview featured in the September issue of Sight and Sound, a monthly film magazine by the British Film Institute. He added that his mobility was limited and that he could continue directing only remotely.After the interview was quoted in several publications, Mr. Lynch said in a social post that he had no plans to retire.“Yes, I have emphysema from my many years of smoking. I have to say that I enjoyed smoking very much, and I do love tobacco – the smell of it, lighting cigarettes on fire, smoking them – but there is a price to pay for this enjoyment, and the price for me is emphysema,” Mr. Lynch wrote in his post on social media.Mr. Lynch said that he quit smoking more than two years ago, and that recent tests showed he was “in excellent shape except for emphysema.”“I am filled with happiness, and I will never retire,” he said.Mr. Lynch is perhaps best known for the television show “Twin Peaks,” an eerie mystery drama that was considered cutting-edge TV when it appeared on ABC in 1990. The show was adapted for the big screen in a film called “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” in 1992 and later revived in 2017 on Showtime.As a film director, he has earned three Oscar nominations for best director, for “The Elephant Man,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive.” “Wild at Heart” won him the 1990 “Palm d’Or” at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Mr. Lynch made a cameo appearance as the character John Ford in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” a film about a family closely modeled on the Spielbergs. Mr. Lynch appears in the end of the movie, when he gives Sammy Fabelman, the main character, advice about filmmaking.According to the American Lung Association, emphysema, also referred to as chronic obstructive lung disease, is a lung disease that causes shortness of breath. Smoking and air pollution are the most common causes. Early warning signs of the disease include coughing up mucus, wheezing and chest tightness, the A.L.A. says on its website. More

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      UK Police Brace for Unrest After Southport Stabbing

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      Protests escalated into violent riots in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Belfast over the weekend, with dozens arrested and more demonstrations planned.The police in cities across Britain were bracing on Sunday for the spread of far-right and anti-immigration protests, a day after dozens of people were arrested in another day of unrest after a stabbing in a northern town last week.Protests in cities including Liverpool and Manchester descended into riots on Saturday, prompting a heavy police response across the country. The National Police Chiefs’ Council, which represents law enforcement across Britain, has said that nearly 4,000 additional officers have been deployed to deter the violence.“The police have our full backing,” Yvette Cooper, the British home secretary, said on Saturday. “I want everyone to be clear. Anyone who gets involved in criminal disorder, violent thuggery on our streets will have to pay the price.”Tension has gripped some communities across the country after a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class on Monday in the town of Southport, near Liverpool, killed three young girls and injured many others. A 17-year-old suspect was later named.Disinformation about the attacker’s identity spread quickly online, falsely identifying him as a migrant and fueling a violent, far-right riot in which a mosque was attacked and dozens of police officers were injured in Southport on Tuesday.Unrest has since spread to other parts of Britain, with violent protests in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and other cities over the weekend. A protest was also held in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and also turned violent.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Scandal Hits U.K.’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing,’ the Original ‘Dancing With the Stars’

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      The BBC said it would add chaperones to rehearsals after allegations of abusive behavior at a hugely popular dance show that inspired international versions.For almost two decades, viewers in Britain have watched celebrities jive, waltz and cha-cha-cha on “Strictly Come Dancing,” a BBC reality television show that inspired the international “Dancing With the Stars” franchise.The format, which has been licensed to 61 other territories including the U.S., pairs professional ballroom dancers with people who are famous in other fields, from athletics and acting to politics and journalism. The amateur dancers then train intensively with their professional partners and compete in weekly live performances.Introduced in 2004, the show quickly became one of the BBC’s most popular programs, widely loved as a glitzy, family-friendly watch on weekends.But in recent months it has grabbed headlines because of a growing scandal: allegations that two professional male dancers exhibited bullying or abusive behavior toward their female dance partners during rehearsals.One former contestant, the actor Amanda Abbington, has alleged in interviews with the British media that her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, displayed “bullying” and “aggressive behavior” and was “abusive, cruel and mean.” She declined to give further details of the behavior in interviews, saying the ongoing nature of a BBC investigation into the allegations prevented her from doing so.Ms. Abbington, who appeared in the British series “Sherlock,” cited “personal reasons” last year for leaving the dance competition during filming, but said this week that she had flagged the behavior to producers before filing an official complaint with the BBC. She said she believed that there were 50 hours of rehearsal video that could bolster her case, though they have not been made public.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      U.K. Royal Family Gets Financial Boost From Offshore Wind and Palaces

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      Profits at the Crown Estate doubled thanks to offshore wind deals, while visitors to royal palaces are almost back to prepandemic levels.New reports on the finances of Britain’s royal family and its ancient property portfolio have revealed a double dose of good news for the household, which has been destabilized by illness and injury in recent months.Profits from the Crown Estate, which oversees the royal family’s massive land and property holdings, jumped to £1.1 billion (about $1.4 billion) from £442.6 million in the previous year, according to the estate’s annual report, mainly thanks to deals involving the leasing of seabed sites to offshore wind producers.As a result, the money the royal family receives from the government — known as the sovereign grant — will rise to £132 million in 2025-2026, up from £86.3 million in recent years.For centuries, net profits from the Crown Estate have been passed to the government, in return for a fixed yearly payment to fund the royal family and its duties. Since 2012, this payment has taken the form of the sovereign grant, which is calculated as a percentage of the estate’s profits.King Charles previously requested that the anticipated surge in profits from the wind power deals be used for the “wider public good.” As a result, the previous government agreed to reduce the sovereign grant to 12 percent of net profits from this year onward, down from 25 percent. If the grant had remained at 25 percent, the king would have received £275 million instead of £132 million, a huge rise that could have jeopardized the royal family’s popularity at a time when much of Britain is still mired in a cost-of-living crisis.The chief executive of the Crown Estate, Dan Labbad, wrote in the annual report that the profit boost was “short term in nature,” adding that over the coming years “revenue and valuation will normalize.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Who Is Rachel Reeves, the Woman Taking the Helm of the U.K.’s Economy?

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      Rachel Reeves became Britain’s first female chancellor of the Exchequer on Friday, taking on one of the country’s four great offices of state, with responsibility for managing Britain’s budget.After a decade and a half of economic stagnation, Ms. Reeves, a Labour lawmaker with a reputation as a serious and steady manager, faces the tough jobs of boosting Britain’s productivity growth, a key measure of prosperity, and of reviving struggling public services.“I know the scale of the challenge that I’m likely to inherit,” Ms. Reeves told the BBC early Friday. “There’s not a huge amount of money there,” she said, adding that the party needed to unlock private investment.Ms. Reeves is expected to approach her new role with deliberation.“Labour has come a long way to regain the trust of people on their economic record and she doesn’t want to risk that,” Carys Roberts, the director of the Institute for Public Policy Research, said.For example, Labour has moved to more centrist policies in recent years, following former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing program of higher spending and widespread nationalization of industries.Ms. Reeves, 45, was elected to Parliament in 2010 in the northern city of Leeds. In a bid to prove her credibility, she has frequently referred to her traditional training as an economist during six years working at the Bank of England after college.She has emphasized her goal of creating stability after a period of international and homegrown economic shocks, including a surge in energy prices and the premiership of Liz Truss, who lasted only 49 days in office after her tax cut proposals roiled financial markets.Ms. Reeves calls her economic agenda “securonomics,” a dull-sounding portmanteau that reflects her already earnest reputation. She once told The Guardian that if you want “cartwheels” to turn to someone else.She has described “securonomics” as ensuring Britain’s economic security in a world that is fragmenting, while also ensuring the security of working people’s finances. It is inspired by the policies of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.But the call for stability is also a sign that Britons shouldn’t expect quick or drastic changes in the handling of the economy.Amid high debt levels and relatively high taxes, Ms. Reeves has vowed not to raise corporate, personal income or V.A.T. taxes and to adhere to strict debt rules. Given these restraints, she hopes that stability will induce much-needed economic growth.In practice, that is expected to mean giving more power to institutions, like the fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility, and working more closely with businesses to encourage them to ramp up private investment.“Labour are pinning a lot on the hope of economic growth, including relying on growth to enable them to spend more on services,” Ms. Roberts said. More

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      Keir Starmer es el nuevo primer ministro del Reino Unido

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      El exabogado de derechos humanos, de 61 años, carece del carisma de sus antecesores, pero lideró un cambio de rumbo para el Partido Laborista[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]Keir Starmer se convirtió el viernes en el primer ministro del Reino Unido después de la decisiva victoria de su Partido Laborista en las elecciones generales.“En todo el país, la gente se despertará con la noticia de que se ha quitado un peso de encima, finalmente se ha quitado una carga de los hombros de esta nación”, dijo un exultante Starmer a sus partidarios en el centro de Londres a primera hora de la madrugada del viernes.Utilizando la analogía de un “rayo soleado de esperanza” naciente, al principio pálido y cada vez más fuerte, dijo que el país tenía “una oportunidad, después de 14 años, de recuperar su futuro”.Starmer sustituye a Rishi Sunak, el primer ministro saliente, quien tomó posesión del cargo hace menos de dos años y lo llamó para felicitarlo.Starmer, de 61 años, es un exabogado de derechos humanos y ha liderado un notable cambio de rumbo del Partido Laborista, que hace pocos años sufrió su peor derrota electoral desde la década de 1930. Ha impulsado el partido hacia el centro político, al mismo tiempo que le ha sacado provecho a los fracasos de tres primeros ministros conservadores.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Nigel Farage, Right-Wing Disrupter, Elected to Parliament for the First Time

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      Nigel Farage, a supporter of former President Donald J. Trump, a driving force behind Brexit and Britain’s best known political disrupter, was elected to Parliament for the first time.The new insurgent party he leads — Reform U.K. — was projected in the national exit poll to have captured four seats, more than many analysts had predicted, in an electoral system that typically punishes small parties. His party has been buoyed by an anti-immigration platform.Mr. Farage won by a large margin in Clacton, a faded seaside town, where pre-election opinion surveys had suggested he had a strong chance of winning. He had tried and failed seven times before to be elected to Parliament.“The establishment are terrified, the Conservatives are terrified,” Mr. Farage declared gleefully in a speech last month, referring to the governing party. Britain was “a broken nation,” he added, attacking targets ranging from asylum seekers to the BBC.A polarizing, pugilistic figure and a highly skilled communicator, Mr. Farage, 60, helped the Conservatives to a landslide victory in the last general election by not running candidates from his Brexit Party in many key areas.This election, his plan was different: to destroy the Tories by poaching much of their vote, then replace — or take over — the party’s remnants. Early in the campaign, after a journalist asked if he wanted to merge his upstart party with the Conservatives, he replied: “More like a takeover, dear boy.”Reform U.K. has come under fierce criticism in recent weeks after a number of its candidates were found to have made inflammatory statements. One said that Britain should have remained neutral in the fight against the Nazis; another used antisemitic tropes by claiming that Jewish groups were “agitating for the mass import into England of Muslims.”The party has blamed some of its problems on growing pains, has dropped some candidates and has threatened to take legal action against a private company it paid to vet candidates.Last week, an undercover investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 News secretly filmed Reform campaigners in Clacton using racist and homophobic language, with one using a slur to describe the prime minister, Rishi Sunak.But for two decades he has shaped Britain’s political conversation, driving the Brexit cause, outflanking the Tories and pushing them further right. More

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      Keir Starmer Is Poised to Be Britain’s Next Prime Minister

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      Keir Starmer is all but certain to become the next prime minister of Britain, after an exit poll projected that his Labour Party would win the general election in a landslide on Thursday. The exit poll, which has accurately predicted the winner of the last five British general elections, indicated late Thursday that Labour was on course to win a commanding majority of seats in the British House of Commons. That would mean Mr. Starmer would replace Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office less than two years ago.Mr. Starmer, a 61-year-old former human rights lawyer, has led a remarkable turnaround for the Labour Party, which just a few years ago suffered its worst election defeat since the 1930s. He has pulled the party to the political center while capitalizing on the failings of three Conservative prime ministers.“He has been ferociously — some would say tediously — boring in his discipline,” Jill Rutter, a research fellow at the London research group U.K. in a Changing Europe, told The New York Times recently. “He’s not going to set hearts racing, but he does look relatively prime-ministerial.”Mr. Starmer was raised in a left-wing, working-class family in Surrey, outside London. He was not close with his father; his mother, a nurse, suffered a debilitating illness that took her in and out of the hospital. Mr. Starmer became the first college graduate in his family, studying first at Leeds University, and then law at Oxford.He was named after Keir Hardie, a Scottish trade unionist who was Labour’s first leader. As a young lawyer, he represented protesters accused of libel by the fast-food chain McDonald’s, and he later rose to become Britain’s chief prosecutor and was awarded a knighthood.Elected to Parliament in 2015, he succeeded the left-wing Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2020 and began remaking the party. He dropped Mr. Corbyn’s proposal to nationalize Britain’s energy companies and promised not to raise taxes on working families. He also committed to supporting Britain’s military, hoping to banish an anti-patriotic label that clung to Labour during the Corbyn era.Mr. Starmer also rooted out the antisemitism that had contaminated the party’s ranks under Mr. Corbyn. Though he has not drawn a link between that and his personal life, his wife, Victoria Starmer, comes from a Jewish family in London. More