By Christian Edwards, CNN

London (CNN) — Wes Streeting has resigned as Britain’s health secretary, saying Thursday that he has “lost confidence” in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership and that it would be “dishonourable and unprincipled” to remain in his government.

The move comes after days of speculation about whether Streeting would formally challenge Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party. In his letter to the prime minister, Streeting announced his resignation from government, but did not say that he was launching a leadership contest.

In order to trigger that contest, Streeting needs to gain the support of one fifth of Labour’s members of parliament (MPs) – at present, 81 lawmakers.

Starmer has been facing a revolt in his Labour Party since it suffered a drubbing in local elections in England and parliament in Scotland and Wales last week, which has spurred nearly 90 Labour lawmakers to publicly call for Starmer to resign. Streeting is the first member of Starmer’s government to resign since the mutiny began.

In his letter, Streeting said last week’s elections had put “nationalists in power in every corner” of the country, which he said could threaten the breakup of the United Kingdom. He said that progressive voters were “losing faith” in the Labour Party, citing Starmer’s missteps which he said had “left the country not knowing who we are or what we really stand for.”

“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” he said.

Streeting claimed it is clear that Starmer will not lead Labour into the next general election, due in 2029, and called for a broad debate about “what comes next,” spanning “the best possible field of candidates.”

Downing Street did not immediately respond to Streeting’s resignation. All week, however, it has insisted that Starmer has no intention of resigning. In a speech Monday, Starmer vowed to stay in post, saying that a change in leadership would plunge Britain back into the “chaos” that flourished under the Conservative Party, which ousted two leaders in the two years before Starmer came to power in a landslide election in 2024.

To Streeting’s allies, he is one of the best communicators in British politics, adding clarity and fizz to Starmer’s government, which has struggled to tell Britain a compelling story about where Labour is taking it. To his critics, he is nakedly ambitious, unprincipled and lacks obvious appeal beyond the world of Westminster. At the last general election, Streeting clung on to his seat in parliament by just 528 votes.

As health secretary, Streeting had been tasked with overhauling Britain’s creaking National Health Service (NHS), which has eaten up a long-increasing share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

His resignation coincides with the publication on Thursday of government data that shows improvements to the NHS under his leadership. NHS waiting lists fell by 110,000 in March, the biggest monthly drop outside of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2008. Streeting said the data meant the government is “on track to achieve the fastest improvement in NHS waiting times in history.”

Perhaps buoyed by this success, Streeting’s resignation may fire the starting gun on the race to replace Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister. Earlier Thursday, Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, announced that she had resolved a dispute with authorities over her failure to

The post Why Museums Matter to Our Communities appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

Happy Thursday! We begin the morning with a mixture of marine clouds and clear skies. Winds were exceptionally strong last night and able to clear a few beach areas. You may see the marine layer slowly creep back in for a few hours this morning. Regardless we all clear out after lunch and it'll be a bright evening. Highs rise a few degrees from days prior. Expect 60s and 70s for most. Winds will be a nuisance and stronger than yesterday but no Wind Advisories yet.

A few marine clouds develop Friday morning before winds crank up and rapidly mix out all cloudy skies. Temperatures Friday will be the warmest of the workweek. Many inland areas rise to mid 80s while beaches hold into the mid 70s. Overnights will be cool in wind sheltered areas, some places drop into te low 40s.

Strongest winds projected Saturday and Sunday. This wind event will create hazardous seas, elevated fire risk and may be damaging in some areas. Hold onto your hats and plan accordingly! Data suggests areas like San Luis Obispo may see gusts nearing 40-50mph. Bring patio furniture and trash can in. We hold with warm and bright conditions into next week. Winds die down by Monday.

The post Warming Thursday, tracking a strong wind event htis weekend appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — On “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” Elle Fanning’s Margo paints her entire body a metallic green. Her aim? To fully embody her OnlyFans persona, an earthside alien named The Hungry Ghost, who offers mild nudity and harsh criticism of her willing subscribers’ genitalia.

The earnings that Margo, a single mom, collects from this line of work go directly toward supporting her infant son after she loses her restaurant job, which didn’t involve horny people on the internet.

Like Margo, more than 4.6 million people worldwide have become creators on OnlyFans — the subscriber-based platform known for featuring everything from foot fetish photos to explicit adult content. A decade after it was founded, OnlyFans is now also all over mainstream TV, including on “Euphoria,” where Sydney Sweeney’s Cassie ascends to stardom on the platform.

It also plays a role in a storyline on HBO’s “Industry” and was even parodied on ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” the most wholesome show on television. A sign that American culture is going through a phase of hyper-sexualization? More like: people are struggling through a fraught and ever-changing US economy. The characters’ motivations for joining (or thinking about joining) OnlyFans may vary, but the reason is inherently the same: The traditional job market isn’t working for them.

Rufi Thorpe, the author of the novel on which AppleTV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is based, believes the “increasing financial hardship in this country” has something to do with the rising cultural relevance of a platform like OnlyFans.

“You see the rise of hustle culture, and it could look like driving for DoorDash or driving for Uber, or it could look like OnlyFans,” she said. “But people are trying desperately to afford their rent.”

However fictional the storylines are, they’re rooted in some of the realities that millions of people are facing today.

A new CNN poll has found most Americans are pessimistic about the economy, with high prices and the cost of living prompting them to cut back on spending, including on groceries. Inflation is also rising, cutting into Americans’ wages, while job seekers in most industries have in recent years been facing big challenges in the labor market. Unless you’re looking for a job in health care — one of the only industries that is actually hiring right now and a field none of the characters in these TV shows work in — it’s pretty bleak.

That economic reality is changing the way sex work is being portrayed on TV. For so long, sex workers have largely been portrayed as victims on police procedurals. This season, they’re being shown turning to OnlyFans to do the banal, but crucial, thing of putting money in their pockets.

Legitimization vs stigmatization

Thorpe was inspired to write her 2024 novel after seeing OnlyFans explode during the pandemic.

The platform allows creators to post videos and photos and interact directly with subscribers — and keep 80% of their earnings, according to OnlyFans’ creator policy.

Those who earn more than $600 per year get a 1099 tax form, which in the eyes of many creators legitimizes their work, said Bridget Crawford, a law professor at Pace University who has published studies on the economics behind OnlyFans. Their goal, she said, is to feel “like any other worker.”

Paying taxes on earnings also helps creators have a record so they can get an apartment or a loan, a mindset similar to that of Fannin

By Jack Guy, CNN

(CNN) — When it comes to slowing down our biological aging, engaging with arts and culture is as beneficial as physical activity, a new study suggests.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) analyzed data from seven different aging clocks — which measure the accumulation of different biomarkers to determine a person’s biological age — of more than 3,500 people from the United Kingdom, according to a study published Monday in the journal Innovation in Ageing.

Study co-author Feifei Bu, a research fellow in UCL’s department of behavioral science, told CNN the study found that both the frequency with which people engage with the arts, as well as the number of different ways in which they do so, can slow the aging process.

The results didn’t come as a big surprise to the researchers, as previous studies have demonstrated links between cultural engagement and better health outcomes in areas such as cognition, depression and mortality, she explained, but this is the first one to examine biological aging.

“Theoretically, one way the arts could affect health is through biological processes,” Bu said in a statement Tuesday. “Our study provides evidence supporting this.”

She explained that the arts cover a wide range of activities, with different “active ingredients,” such as aesthetics; sensory or physical stimulation; and social interaction.

According to the study, there were “comparable effect sizes” between physical activity and engagement with the arts. The “findings were generally stronger amongst middle-aged and older adults aged 40 or above,” and the data was controlled for income and a number of other factors.

“Our research shows that both frequency and diversity matter,” Bu said. “The ‘best’ way would depend on the individual — their interests, what’s available to them, and what they enjoy doing consistently.”

She emphasized that the study builds on existing research, “underscoring the potential value of integrating the arts into public health strategies and initiatives.”

Next, the team is planning to analyze similar data across different countries and populations, as well as looking at how other biological outcomes could be affected by cultural engagement, Bu added.

James Stark, a professor of medical humanities at the University of Leeds, England, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that the research is “detailed and robust.”

“It draws on cutting-edge tools for measuring biological ageing and uses a large swathe of real-world data,” he told CNN on Tuesday.

“As well as confirming the positive effects of cultural participation on our health, it validates the importance of investment in the arts and culture, and shows that these are not just incidental additions to our lives, but make a real difference to our health,” Stark added.

Another scientist who wasn’t involved in the study, Eamonn Mallon, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Leicester, England, said the “carefully conducted” research is “the first to ask whether cultural activities might be linked to slower biological ageing at the molecular level.”

“The headline finding is that they are, and by roughly the same amount as physical activity,” he told CNN on Tuesday, before highlighting a caveat.

“This is a single snapshot in time, so we can’t yet say that visiting a museum causes you to age more slowly. It’s possible that people who are biologically younger for their chronological age are simply more likely to get out and do things,” Mallon said.

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