‘The first time we opened for James Brown, we got 20 minutes on stage. Then when he heard the crowd response, he cut it to 15. By the end of the tour, he’d cut us back to five’

Three of us were in a Philadelphia group called the Monarchs and the other guys were in the Percussions. When we left school, some went on to university and others were drafted into the military. The Monarchs were left with three members and the Percussions with two, so our English teacher and manager, Miss Beverly Hamilton, suggested we combine. Our guitar player, Robert Douglas, came up with the band name, which suggested something stylish.

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It was a fatal error certainly for Palestinians and quite likely, as we now see, for Americans, too

Could Kamala Harris have won the election if she had promised to change course in Gaza? It’s impossible to know, of course, but there’s reason to think so. Instead, Harris hewed far too closely to Biden’s position, alienating large numbers of voters along the way. The result? We can expect the catastrophe for the Palestinian people to continue, while we learn to live with a much more dangerous Donald Trump , a man whose far-right agenda threatens many of us in and out of the United States.

What seems to have doomed Harris most was not so much traditional Democrats casting votes for the Republican Trump, though there was some of that. In fact, party loyalty, at around 95% for both parties, was basically the same as in 2020. Rather, Harris’s shortcomings point to the rank-and-file of the Democratic party not coming out to vote and to more first-time voters casting Republican ballots. We don’t have the final voter tally yet, but so far Harris has amassed just over 68m votes, compared with Trump’s 72m. Biden, by contrast, earned over 81m votes in 2020. By the time the final numbers are in, it’s likely that Trump will have won more than the 74m votes he had in 2020, and Harris will have been the first Democrat to lose the popular vote in 20 years.

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• PGMOL aware of the video circulating on social media
• Coote accused of negative comments about Liverpool

The Premier League referee David Coote has been accused of calling Jürgen Klopp a “German cunt” and Liverpool “shit” after video footage emerged apparently showing the official explaining his disdain for the former manager.

According to the clip that surfaced on social media on Monday, Coote claimed that Klopp was “arrogant” and had accused him of lying after a match between Liverpool and Burnley during Project Restart in 2020. Coote took charge of Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Aston Villa on Saturday.

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Traders hope president-elect will favour cryptocurrencies when he returns to the White House

• Business live – latest updates

The price of bitcoin has risen above $82,000 for the first time as it benefited from traders’ hopes that Donald Trump will favour cryptocurrencies when he returns to the White House.

Bitcoin reached a record high of $82,413, before dropping back to about $82,000, a gain of about 2.8% on Monday. The price has more than doubled from about $37,000 12 months ago.

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Carabinieri and Pisa prosecutor say 38 people being investigated with about 2,100 fake artworks seized

Italian police have uncovered a large-scale pan-European forgery network making and selling fake artworks attributed to some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art including Banksy, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Thirty-eight people were placed under investigation in Italy, Spain, France and Belgium on suspicion of conspiracy to handle stolen goods, forgery and illegal sale of artworks, the paramilitary Carabinieri art squad and the Pisa prosecutors’ office said in a joint statement on Monday.

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New Tory leader tell inquiry of asking Treasury to sign off funding for better compensation over Horizon IT scandal

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has said it is “extremely disappointing” that it took the ITV drama about the Post Office scandal to get the government to accelerate compensation payments for wrongfully prosecuted branch owner-operators, the inquiry has heard.

Badenoch, the new leader of the opposition who held the post of business secretary for 17 months until the general election, said she and her then postal minister, Kevin Hollinrake, had been working behind the scenes to get the Treasury to sign off on funding for more rapid and generous payouts for post officer operators affected by the Horizon IT scandal.

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Head of electoral commission had said timing of early election could be affected by shortage of paper to print ballots

Paper industry bosses in Germany have hit back at claims by the national electoral commission that a lack of paper might hinder the timing of the country’s early elections.

“We have paper,” the seemingly exasperated head of the trade association for the German paper industry, Alexander von Reibnitz, told the state broadcaster ZDF, adding: “The German paper industry is very productive … we can deliver as long as the order is submitted in a timely manner.”

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Jean Langan suffered fatal head injuries while leaving Derriford hospital in Plymouth, jury hears

An 87-year-old woman suffered fatal head injuries when she was blown over by a search and rescue helicopter as it landed at a hospital, an inquest jury has heard.

Jean Langan had attended Derriford hospital in Plymouth, Devon, to have a hearing aid fitted and was walking with a relative back to their vehicle in the hospital car park.

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Italian’s impressive start has come despite seeming to have a surplus of players but the situation remains delicate

For Malo Gusto, it was possible to fear the worst as he waited for Enzo Maresca to name his Chelsea team for Sunday’s Stamford Bridge derby against Arsenal . Gusto had been substituted at half-time in the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United , Marc Cucurella coming on at left-back, Reece James swapping over to his favoured position of right-back.

Gusto had been squeezed out. Cucurella is in form and James, well, he is the club captain, the homegrown favourite; available again, at long last, after his hamstring problems. It would be him and Cucurella against Arsenal, right?

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