Political history is filled with leaders attempting to capture the cultural zeitgeist of their era. Decades ago, Tony Blair famously welcomed prominent pop stars, including Noel Gallagher of Oasis, through the black door of Downing Street in an effort to align New Labour with the booming "Cool Britannia" movement of the 1990s. Now, modern political strategy is reaching even further down the demographic timeline. Andy Burnham is currently attempting to charm the next generation of voters—and perhaps their social media-scrolling parents—by taking digital engagement to a literal extreme, issuing an official invitation to an 11-month-old baby to attend a high-profile Downing Street reception next week.
The leader, who has earned the digital moniker of the “TikTok Prime Minister” due to his heavy reliance on social media platforms, raised eyebrows across the political and entertainment landscapes when a formal invitation arrived at the home of former Made in Chelsea stars Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo. The document was addressed directly to their infant son, Ziggy Laing, inviting him to mingle with online influencers and content creators at the seat of government.
For the infant’s parents, the gesture proved entirely bewildering, not least because neither Jamie nor Sophie received an invitation of their own. Young Ziggy is currently not even walking, let alone posting selfies or crafting political commentary for the digital masses.
Jamie Laing, a well-known podcaster and BBC presenter, took to the internet to air his amusement and confusion, sharing a photograph of the official government invitation with his online followers. "Dear Prime Minister, how is he going to get there if I’m not invited…?" Jamie wrote online. "I know things aren’t looking great, but I’m not sure my 11-month-old is the answer."
Despite his tender age, Ziggy has already enjoyed a remarkably public introduction to the limelight. The infant featured prominently in Raising Chelsea, the Sky documentary series that chronicled Jamie and Sophie’s tumultuous and heavily publicized journey into parenthood. The documentary even provided television viewers with a front-row seat to his birth last December. Since then, Ziggy—whose unique moniker was inspired by his parents’ favorite luxury resort in Oman, Six Senses Zighy Bay—has maintained a starring role on Jamie and Sophie’s respective Instagram accounts, which command a combined following of 2.8 million users.
Yet, while this privileged toddler may have already acquired a substantial digital following of his own, his political credentials remain decidedly untested.
The rationale behind the invitation points to a broader, pressing strategy within modern politics. Burnham is evidently desperate to court the digital generation, increasingly bypassing traditional media channels to invite online creators, digital media outlets, and social media personalities directly into Number 10. The goal is clear: to reach younger audiences who have largely abandoned traditional television news and newspapers in favor of online content creators and algorithmic feeds for their daily dose of information and entertainment.
Even so, by being summoned to crawl the historic corridors of power at such an unprecedentedly early age, young Ziggy has managed to take the colloquial term “nepo baby” into an entirely new and unexpected dimension.
Ali G’s ex Isla finds a toy boy
While the political world adjusts to the eccentricities of modern digital campaigning, the landscape of celebrity relationships continues to throw up its own surprises. Australian actress Isla Fisher appears to have embraced a completely new lease on life following her separation from comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who has recently found himself struggling to recapture his former comic glory with his once-ubiquitous alter ego, Ali G.
Fisher, 50, was recently spotted by sharp-eyed onlookers looking thoroughly smitten while "canoodling" with a handsome 26-year-old man at a trendy restaurant located in West London. "They looked smitten," noted an eagle-eyed source close to the scene.
The actress split from the Borat star, 55, after 14 years of marriage and is clearly making the most of her new chapter as a single woman in the capital. Reflecting on her altered status in a recent interview, Fisher noted, “There’s something about being divorced where you feel like you could just do anything.” It appears that philosophy extends quite literally to passionately romancing a much younger partner in public view.
A U-turn in F1
The intersection of motorsport and media also provided a moment of inadvertent comedy recently, involving Red Bull’s high-profile circles. During his tenure as the principal running Red Bull’s Formula One team, Geri Halliwell’s husband, Christian Horner, famously suggested that the global racing sport was successfully attracting a new demographic of young female followers primarily because of its "great-looking drivers."
That theory was put to the test when glamorous content creator and Box Box With Bella host Bella James interviewed Horner on a red carpet. Looking to test his previous assertion, James flattered—and perhaps baited—the team principal by asking, "Did you ever consider it was because of the good-looking team principals?"
As Horner smiled coyly, expecting a compliment regarding his own management team, James swiftly delivered the punchline by adding, "Because Toto Wolff is hot."
Hearing the name of his notoriously fierce Mercedes rival uttered directly to his face left Horner momentarily stunned. Recovering his composure, he could only stutter a defensive response: "I’m not sure… I’m not a member of the Toto Wolff fan club." Reflecting on the viral moment afterward, James noted with satisfaction, "They tell me everyone in F1 loved that interview."
Too grotty for Lottie
Back on the streets of London, the city’s soaring cost of living and logistical headaches are beginning to drive away some of its most high-profile residents. Lottie Moss, the 28-year-old model and half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss, has issued a public threat to abandon the capital entirely, citing exorbitant expenses and endless, disruptive roadworks.
"Why the f have we decided to do all the roadworks at the same time?" the model fumed in a video shared with her online followers, detailing the chaos brought on by urban infrastructure projects. "Oxford fing Street is closed. It is absolute carnage. I can’t get anywhere."
Lottie—who shares a father, Peter, with Kate—argued that even basic urban transit has become financially unsustainable. Claiming that a standard short taxi ride in the evening now commands exorbitant fees, she revealed that she has been forced to resort to riding public electric bikes everywhere she goes. "It is so expensive to live here now," she lamented. "The quality of life is down the toilet. Genuinely considering moving."
Meanwhile, the stars of Apple TV’s hit MI5 espionage drama Slow Horses are finding that fame on the small screen does not necessarily translate to VIP treatment in Hollywood. Rosalind Eleazar, who portrays Louisa, and Christopher Chung, who plays the hapless and bumbling technician Roddy in the series, recently found themselves unceremoniously refused entry to an exclusive club in Hollywood.
To add insult to injury, the rejection was compounded by the swift passage of other patrons. "A woman called ‘Hannah Banana’ sailed on past us," Rosalind recalled of the indignity. Christopher added that when they attempted to leverage their professional status to bypass the queue, the door staff remained entirely unimpressed. "Someone said we were from Slow Horses and the bouncer went, ‘What’s that?’" One can easily imagine the show’s cynical veteran agent, Jackson Lamb, famously played by Gary Oldman, rolling his eyes at the misadventure.
Who’ll take the crown?
As modern celebrities grapple with Hollywood doors and London traffic, historic aristocracy is quietly finding its way onto the auction block. Serena Snowdon was once said to have been deeply "embarrassed" when her then-husband, Viscount Linley, chose to auction off his mother Princess Margaret’s extensive jewelry collection back in 2006. That high-profile sale ultimately raked in £13.7 million, with a single tiara fetching nearly £1 million.
Now, another aristocratic piece of history connected to Serena’s family is heading to public auction. A coronet created specifically for one of the countess’s own ancestors—the Regency-era dandy Viscount Petersham, who later became the 4th Earl of Harrington—is going under the hammer with a considerably more modest estimated price tag of £2,000 to £3,000.
The historic piece has been put up for sale via Essex auctioneers Reeman Dansie by one of Serena’s "distant relations" who has chosen to remain entirely anonymous. Serena ultimately separated from her husband, who succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Snowdon, in 2020.
