Ministers reject call to fight for visa-free Brexit touring plan for musicians

Bae Suzy has officially dropped her new single ‘Satellite’, alongside its music video.The visual focuses on a woman, played by PROWDMON dance crew leader Monika from Mnet’s hit dance reality series Street Woman Fighter, as she run through the hallways of a decrepit, abandoned building. Bae does not appear in the video.‘Satellite’ was released today (February 17) at 6pm KST, alongside the video treatment.

DaBaby over an alleged unprovoked physical attack on him at a bowling alley in Los Angeles.Brandon Bills, whose real name is Brandon Curiel, is the brother of Danielle Leigh Curiel, whom DaBaby formerly dated and shares a daughter with.Bills claims that DaBaby (real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk) is legally liable for physically assaulting him “suddenly and without warning” as he walked past the rapper on February 9 at Corbin Bowl.He also claimed that the incident caused him to endure “severe injury and pain” and left him “psychologically damaged”.DaBaby has publicly claimed that he acted in self-defence. He has yet to comment publicly on the lawsuit.The brawl, which was captured in a viral video shared by TMZ, shows Bills and DaBaby grappling and spilling onto bowling lanes before other people appear to attack Bills.Bills’ lawsuit, filed by lawyers Farid Yaghoubtil and Anthony Werbin, also names Corbin Bowl as a defendant.

Lil Wayne has shared details of his first live performance in the UK for 14 years.The rapper is set to return in the summer for an exclusive slot at Strawberries & Creem Festival, which takes place at Childerley Orchard in Cambridge from June 17-19.Strawberries & Creem has also confirmed today (February 17) that Ella Mai, Mabel and Tems will all headline the main stage across the three days of the festival.Tion Wayne, Ghetts, Rema, Ms Banks, David Rodigan, Enny, Sub Focus, High Contrast, Katy B, Wilkinson and Lisa Maffia are also on the line-up.“This year, as we scale up to a full three days, we wanted to ensure our musical offering matched that level of ambition – as well as reflecting our incredibly diverse crowd,” Strawberries & Creem co-founder Preye Crooks said in a statement about this year’s festival, the line-up poster for which you can see below.“We have gone further than ever before to bring exceptional artists together, showing Strawberries & Creem to be a major player on the weekend festival scene. As a team, we also wanted to shine a light on some amazing genres and artists that aren’t always celebrated in full at other festivals.“We hope we have curated a truly representative and exciting line-up, one that offers an unrivalled experience to our festival goers – covering everything from D&B and dance music, to reggae and R&B.”Tickets for Strawberries & Creem 2022 will initially be available in a pre-sale from 10am on Monday (February 21), which requires a sign-up on the festival’s website.

A murderer who was sentenced to life in prison after strangling his fiancée to death with his bare hands has died in prison.

Thousands of West Lothian households are “holding on by their fingertips” as they face a storm of rising prices, warned the Citizens Advice Bureau.

It's another big night in Europe for Scottish football.

A cheeky Scots dog has lost 2.5ft of his intestines after he accidentally swallowed one of his rope toys.

A West Lothian group has been selected as a Royal Horticultural Society Britain in Bloom finalist.

The UK TV skills crisis has been laid bare by research from ScreenSkills showing the vast majority of production companies struggling immensely to find key roles such as Production Manager and Production Co-ordinator on non-scripted shows.

Manori Ravindran International EditorKenneth Branagh will play U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a new Sky TV series detailing Britain’s muddled response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Brexit financial support for the music industry.The government has come in for heavy criticism since the UK officially left the EU earlier this month over the Brexit deal’s lack of support for touring musicians, specifically in terms of the failure to implement visa-free travel in Europe for British musicians and their crew.While Dowden previously told NME that the EU was to blame for not permitting visa-free travel for artists, the EU subsequently hit back by denying claims that they had rejected the UK’s “ambitious proposals” and saying that they had in fact offered the UK 90 days of visa-free travel – but the UK responded with their own proposal of just 30 days.Despite widespread anger from artists and music industry bosses calling on

Music industry reps yesterday met with UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden to discuss the problems facing British musicians touring Europe post-Brexit. The meeting followed the publication of an open letter demanding that the government act on this issue as soon as possible, signed by a plethora of artists, performers and music industry people.When the last minute post-Brexit UK/EU trade deal was published last month it quickly became apparent that there was no provision ensuring visa-free touring for British artists in the EU or EU artists in the UK.

The Who frontman Roger Daltrey’s decision to sign a letter supporting visa-free travel for musicians has caused a stir online, after the singer previously spoke out in support of Brexit and claimed that it wouldn’t have any impact on music.Daltrey joined the likes of Liam Gallagher, Ed Sheeran, and Elton John as over 100 artists signed an open letter slamming the UK Government for having “shamefully failed” the music industry in Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.The letter called on the government to “urgently do what it said it would do and negotiate paperwork-free travel in Europe for British artists and their equipment” and argued that otherwise “many tours [will be] unviable, especially for young emerging musicians who are already struggling

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal failed to secure visa-free travel for artists wishing to tour Europe (adding huge costs to future live music tours of the continent will be incurred and preventing rising and developing UK artists from being able to afford it), a row erupted over who was responsible.Last week, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden put the blame for this at the foot of the EU following reports that a “standard” proposal that would exempt performers from needing a visa to enter countries in the EU for trips under 90 days was actually turned down by the UK government.

direct to your inboxA government minister has suggested when a ‘gradual’ easing of lockdown restrictions will begin in England.Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast this morning that the national lockdown is not expected to be lifted until early March.Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the coronavirus lockdown would be reviewed in mid-February when he announced it earlier this month.Mr Zahawi said: “If we take the mid-February target, two weeks after that you get your protection, pretty much, for the Pfizer/BioNTech, three weeks for the Oxford/AstraZeneca, you are protected.“One of the things we don’t know yet, and the deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam is on record as saying ‘look give me a couple of months

Boris Johnson’s Business Department plans to dump rules governing the 48-hour week and rest breaks at work. According to a leak to the Financial Times newspaper Ministers are drawing up proposals that could mean longer working weeks and not including overtime pay when calculating some holiday pay entitlements.The post-Brexit plan comes despite numerous pledges by Boris Johnson that quitting the EU would not undermine rules protecting working hours.Labour’s Ed Miliband said the party would fight “tooth and nail” against the plans.

straight to your inbox every day for freeManchester United star Marcus Rashford is continuing his campaign to help underprivileged children, joining forces with celebrity chefs and Hollywood royalty.Wythenshawe born Rashford is calling on the Government to review its policy on free school meals.He was joined by TV chefs Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, as well as the actress Dame Emma Thompson, in writing a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.The letter, which calls on the Government to develop a strategy to end child food poverty, has been coordinated by the Food Foundation and is supported by charities and education leaders.It reads: "This review would provide the Government with the opportunity to future-proof

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal failed to secure visa-free travel for artists wishing to tour Europe (adding huge costs to future live music tours of the continent will be incurred and preventing rising and developing UK artists from being able to afford it), a row erupted over who was responsible.Yesterday, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden put the blame for this at the foot of the EU following reports that a “standard” proposal that would exempt performers from needing a visa to enter countries in the EU for trips under 90 days was actually turned down by the UK government.

shellfish outside Westminster in protest at the toll Brexit is taking on his industry. Jamie McMillan, owner of Lochfyne Langoustine & Lochfyne Seafarms, took to Twitter to share his disgust that Scottish exporters are not able to sell product to the EU market due to Brexit red tape.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to meet with MPs to discuss the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the impact of Brexit on touring musicians from the UK, with the arrangements of his recent trade deal not yet securing visa-free travel for artists and their crew.Without the implementation of these ‘Musicians’ Passports’, it is feared that huge costs to future live music tours of the continent will be incurred – which would especially prevent rising and developing UK artists from being able to afford to tour, creating a potential “glass ceiling” and threatening the stability of the UK’s £5.8billion music industry.Earlier today (January 13) Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden put the blame for this at the foot of the EU following reports that

Brexit.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to meet with MPs to discuss the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the impact of Brexit on touring musicians from the UK, with the arrangements of Johnson’s recent trade deal not yet securing visa-free travel for artists and their crew.Without the implementation of these ‘Musicians’ Passports’, it is feared that huge costs to future live music tours of the continent will be incurred – which would especially prevent rising and developing UK artists from being able to afford to tour, creating a potential “glass ceiling” and threatening the stability of the UK’s £5.8 billion music industry.Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden claimed to NME earlier today (January 13) that the EU was “letting down music on

Boris Johnson has vowed to meet with MPs to discuss the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the impact of Brexit on touring musicians from the UK.The Prime Minister’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU saw workers from some professions being allowed to travel on business without the need to apply for a visa.However, musicians and their crew were not covered in the deal, adding huge costs to future tours of the continent – as well as potentially preventing rising UK talent from being able to afford to do so.The knock-on effect, it is feared, would be the creation of a potential “glass ceiling” which could threaten the stability of the £5.8 billion music industry.While a petition calling for Europe-wide visa-free touring for musicians has been