Furious Good Morning Britain viewers ‘switch off’ as ‘unprofessional’ Ed Balls ‘smirks’ during heart-wrenching LA wildfires report_Nhy
Good Morning Britain viewers were left fuming after host Ed Balls appeared to ‘smirk’ during a heart-wrenching report about the Los Angeles wildfires, with some even claiming they had ‘switched off’ the show.
More than 20 square miles have been razed to the ground in less than 48 hours after the biggest blaze in the city’s history, leading to the deaths of at least five people.
During Thursday’s instalment of the ITV programme, Ed, 57, and co-host Ranvir Singh, 47, discussed the horrific fires several times, including after the break at 7am.
In the segment, the former Labour MP asked US correspondent Ross King: ‘How does it affect how you feel about your safety today?’
The reporter said: ‘The pictures are difficult to watch when you’re right here in the middle of it. It’s the most destructive fire in LA history – at the moment there’s about 10 fires going on. The one that’s very close to me is the Runyon Canyon, which is referred to as the Sunset Fire and is just a couple of miles away.’
But eagle-eyed viewers spotted Ed’s facial expression change slightly when he posed the question, with some accusing him of ‘smirking’.
Good Morning Britain viewers were left fuming after host Ed Balls appeared to ‘smirk’ during a heart-wrenching report about the Los Angeles wildfires
In the segment, the former Labour MP asked US correspondent Ross King: ‘How does it affect how you feel about your safety today?’
More than 20 square miles have been razed to the ground in less than 48 hours after the biggest blaze in the city’s history
One X user said: ‘Watching the devastation of the LA fires and Ed Balls is smirking whilst delivering this news on GMB. Very confused. Sending thoughts to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy.’
Another posted: ‘Why does Ed Balls look like he’s smirking and trying not to laugh when reading the news?’
A third added: ‘Why does Ed Balls always look like he is about to p*** himself laughing when discussing serious topics? Very unprofessional.’
Another user said: ‘Could Ed Balls look any less sympathetic to the fires in LA he looked positively delighted! Need to work on your sad face Ed!’
One viewer posted: ‘Why does Ed Balls always have a grin on his face when reading horrific headline news?? Just now re: LA fires and on Monday when discussing the boys who died in a car crash. I am sure it’s not on purpose but very off putting.’
A sixth incensed user added: ‘Ed Balls finds it impossible to be impartial. He was also almost smiling introducing this LA fire piece. Weird.’
Another said: ‘Why is Ed Balls grinning and smirking whilst telling us many have lost their homes in the fires? Someone needs to give him lessons in public speaking.’
A perfect storm of overgrown vegetation, dry conditions and uncharacteristic winds were responsible for whipping up the most devastating wildfire the City of Angels has ever seen.
Eagle-eyed viewers spotted Ed’s facial expression change slightly when he posed the question, with some accusing him of ‘smirking’
Experts say that heavy rains from El Niño last year fueled vegetation growth in the Los Angeles area, which had since dried out and become highly flammable.
Once the flames ignited, SoCal was battered by ‘devil winds’, formally known as Santa Ana winds – warm and gusty northeast winds that blow from the region’s interior toward the coast, unlike the usual winds which come in from the Pacific and blow cooler, more moist air inland.
As of Thursday morning, the largest inferno has consumed nearly 12,000 acres (4,856 hectares) in the picturesque Pacific Palisades neighborhood that is home to many film, television and music stars.
At least five people have lost their lives in the disaster so far, with 2,000 structures obliterated and thousands of people left with nothing but ash across the city.
The death toll is expected to rise as police and fire services prepare to deploy K-9 units trained to sniff out human remains.
More than 130,000 people are still under evacuation orders in Southern California as several notable TV, film and music stars took to social media to announce they had lost their homes.
Mandy Moore, Cary Elwes, Paris Hilton, James Woods, Billy Crystal and his wife Janice all claimed to have seen their homes go up in smoke in the Palisades Fire.
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Nothing to see here, people. Alas, the minister’s strangulated, panicky timbre – plus, perhaps, a slightly sweaty bulge to his eyeballs – suggested otherwise
Rachel Reeves declined to answer a mid-morning Commons discussion of the state of the economy (or what is left of it after Ms Reeves’s Budget). Whitehall aides possibly couldn’t prise her fingers off the banister at the Treasury. My wife and I used to have similar trouble at home when our daughter Eveleen was little and did not want to attend primary school. We would have to uncurl each gripping finger one at a time, holding Eveleen off the floor in a horizontal position while she screamed ‘no, I’m NOT going to school!’ Twenty years on, she has, I should say, turned out beautifully.
Anyway, Ms Reeves was a no-show for an urgent question put by Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride. ‘Wherisheee?’ twittered Tories when they realised the Chancellor was not coming. They were not told. It may have been that she was packing her pyjamas for her trip to China. It may equally have been that she was locked in the smallest room, staring down the khazi after seeing the latest data from the markets.
With the Commons exchanges about to start, the Government had to field a minister. But who? City minister Tulip Siddiq was off games – little Tulip is in a spot of bother over a connection with her aunt who used to run Bangladesh. Parliamentary secretary Emma Reynolds was too junior. Exchequer secretary James Murray was too gloomy. Mr Murray has the crepuscular presence of a mortuary attendant.
Normally a model of languid politeness, Darren Jones came bowling into the chamber wearing a corrugated brow, writes QUENTIN LETTS
‘Get Darren Jones to do it!’ wailed Downing Street. And so it fell to dainty Darren, Treasury chief secretary, who as I may have mentioned before resembles the 1950s comic film actor Richard Wattis. Normally a model of languid politeness, he came bowling into the chamber wearing a corrugated brow. Here, one gathered, was a man whose Thursday routine had been brutally disrupted.
Mr Stride put his urgent question. And off Mr Jones shot. The pace was worthy of Beethoven’s 7th. Allegretto con pistachio nuts. Dainty Darren, normally so silken, was shouting and gabbling and waving his arms like a Neapolitan traffic cop.
This Mediterranean delivery did not match the desired import of his words, which had been written to reassure MPs that there was no need to worry about the economy. Mr Jones’s script, still warm from the office printer, claimed that it was ‘normal for the price and yield of gilts to vary’. No cause for alarm. Nothing to see here, people. Alas, his strangulated, panicky timbre – plus, perhaps, a slightly sweaty bulge to his eyeballs – suggested otherwise. So did the absence of any other Treasury minister. How lonely Mr Jones looked.
Mr Stride calmly noted that Mr Jones had given a ‘slightly anxious and breathless’ performance. Mr Jones: ‘I have not even had my first cup of coffee yet this morning!’ He almost bit the air as he said this. Poor chap had plainly had a hell of a morning.
For the rest of the 50 minutes he railed against Liz Truss. Attacking the last PM but one was the only tactic for Labour. Halfway through there came a whiff of formaldehyde and we discovered that the mortuary attendant – Brother Murray – had materialised to show support for the juddering, squeaking Jones. It was barely 11am yet already Mr Murray had a fuzz of five o’clock shadow on his cadaverous cheeks. Radiating funereal woe, he cracked a graveyard smile and the temperature dropped another degree.
Amid his fevered rants against Ms Truss, Mr Jones repeatedly averred that the Government still saw no need for further tax rises. Labour MPs chose to ignore the likely consequences of that (ie cuts to government spending).
The Lib Dems’ spokesman, Clive Jones, moaned about both Labour and the Tories, and said there must be no cut in spending to the NHS. This second Jones is a leading contender for the title of ‘most boring MP in the new Commons’. Speaker Hoyle, perhaps hypnotised by his dullness, accidentally called him ‘Clive James’ one day. Oh, if only.
