K9 Is Honored With Heartfelt Retirement Ceremony as His Partner Gets Emotional
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Alexander Armstrong Across America
Alexander Armstrong Across America (Ch5)
Rating: Four out of five stars
Swaggering aboard a steam train in his black gaucho hat, waistcoat and watch-chain, Alexander Armstrong looked like an extra in a Spaghetti Western — The Good, The Bad And The Pointless.
'I'm feeling quite Lee Van Cleef,' he growled, narrowing his eyes. But the tough gringo image was rather undermined by a clip in the opening sequence of Alexander Armstrong Across America, where he examined a six-shooter, holding it with distaste between thumb and forefinger as though he were picking up a teenager's smelly sock from the floor.
Xander, as he introduces himself to everyone, is at his most entertaining when he's out of his depth and trying to win everyone's approval by playing the hapless charmer, with a sort of regal camp.
This persona didn't work at all on his last series, in India, where English toffs are largely regarded with a mixture of suspicion and deference. But in the States, where they adore our bumblings and are far too polite to mention our eccentricities, he was able to chunter, wiffle and gurgle to his heart's content.
Arriving in Philadelphia, he tucked into the city's traditional cheesesteak sandwich, a baguette laden with beef, melted cheese and onions. Gnawing the end off it, he spluttered, 'A manly slice of food, this. I'm feeling terrifically butch, can you tell?'
Everyone he met seemed ready to adopt him, which is just how Xander loves to be treated — as a sort of posh pet who craves attention and tummy tickles.
Visiting a family of Philadelphia Dutch churchgoers, who refuse to own smartphones or even televisions, he tucked into shoofly pie, a sort of treacle tart that is crying out to be a 'technical challenge' recipe for the next series of Bake Off.
Alexander Armstrong with Sarah Laurel from Savage Sisters Recovery
Alexander Armstrong pictured at Skinny Joes Cheesesteak eating a Philly Cheesesteak
Before he'd polished off dessert, he was joining the five Gustavsons in song, and did so well that they invited him to join them on stage at their church hall. This is Xander's idea of heaven.
Anthems of the weekend:
The last part of Free Nelson Mandela (Ch4) showed how 1980s stadium pop helped end apartheid, thanks to songs by Labi Siffre, Simple Minds, Steve van Zandt and others. Today's TikTok generation doesn't do protest music.. just memes.
He was much less comfortable on a visit to a mobile medical unit offering help to homeless drug addicts, in the city's downtown Kensington district.
In his button-down shirt collar and sleeveless pullover, he was mistaken for a policeman by the locals, who started throwing bottles at his car. 'To be honest,' he gulped, 'this whole scene makes me very nervous.'
His guide was former addict Sarah, now a charity counsellor, who told him how she lost her job as a hotel executive after sliding into opioid addiction. To feed her habit, she said, 'I started working in a strip club.'
Xander looked blank. He had the look of a minor royal at a palace garden party who has asked a visitor, 'Have you come far?' and been told they've just arrived from Alpha Centauri.
'What were you doing at the strip club?' he wondered. Sarah gaped at him. He's a dear fellow, but perfectly clueless.
How Ronan Keating is raising eyebrows, and NOT in a good way, in Dubai
Former pop star Ronan Keating is among an elite group of ex-pats who have been promoting messages from the Dubai government, including from the ruler of the emirate.
The former Boyzone singer moved to the sun-drenched tax haven last year and since then has been extolling its virtues on social media to fans and followers.
Now he’s reposting messages from its government, which is facing international criticism for jailing people who posted footage of drone or missile debris during recent Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Last week, the ruler of Dubai and vice president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched a nationwide initiative called Dubai-it.
Framing it as a cultural and governmental philosophy, he said that ‘to Dubai-it’ is ‘to achieve something extraordinary with excellence in record time’.
The Sheikh announced the initiative across his official social media channels.
Within hours, Keating posted similar content on his own Instagram account, where he has 682,000 followers.
Keating’s apparent support of a government that is continually accused of human rights abuses is bound to raise eyebrows.
However, the singer is no stranger to performing in Dubai or to singing its praises.
Former pop star Ronan Keating is among an elite group of ex-pats who have been promoting messages from the Dubai government
He headlined the Coca-Cola Arena in 2024 and last November performed at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre, after which he gave a glowing interview describing Dubai audiences as ‘just full of energy’.
In January last year, Keating, 45, and his Australian-born wife Storm left their £5million (€5.8million) home in Hertfordshire, England, and moved their entire family to Dubai, enrolling their young children Cooper and Coco in local schools.
Storm documented the move on Instagram, posting images of plush sunbeds on glass balconies, an infinity pool, and the couple’s children eating ice cream on the beach.
‘Dubai Days,’ she wrote. ‘Can’t believe we have been living here for almost two months already.’
Using geolocation data from social media posts by both Storm and Ronan, The Mail On Sunday revealed the couple are living in District One, a hyper-exclusive gated community within Mohammed Bin Rashid City.
The multi-billion-euro development is built around a seven-kilometre man-made crystal lagoon, featuring villas, manicured grounds and private pools.
Properties in District One sell for millions of euros and the community is considered among the most exclusive addresses in the Gulf.
However, beneath the glossy veneer, the construction of District One, which began in 2013 and was completed in 2018, has been slammed by human rights organisations who have documented systemic abuses against the migrant workers who built the development.
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum delivers a speech during the Founders Memorial event in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019
Human Rights Watch described abuses including wage exploitation, indebtedness to unscrupulous recruiters and working conditions that were ‘hazardous to the point of being deadly’.
Passports of labourers were found to have been confiscated by employers and workers were housed in overcrowded labour camps.
Many arrived on the promise of salaries that never materialised.
Nonetheless, in recent years, Dubai has been running a deliberate and well-funded campaign to attract Western celebrity residents.
In January last year the UAE launched its Creators HQ at the Emirates Towers, a state-backed hub designed to attract 10,000 global influencers to live and work in the emirate.
Within six months, the hub had signed up more than 2,400 members from 147 countries.
It was shortly after this announcement that Keating revealed in an interview with Esquire Middle East that he had decamped to Dubai to set up a creators’ music hub.
The scheme comes with an attendant Golden Visa, offering long-term residency to celebrities, athletes and people of influence.
