Right-wing political commentator Ben Shapiro tried to roast Joe Biden but it immediately backfired on him. Shapiro is no stranger to controversy or voicing his opinion, regardless of how unhinged it might seem. Earlier this year, the conservative commentator made not one but three videos about how much he disliked the 2023 hit Barbie movie. Now, it is President Joe Biden that Shapiro has set his sights on after trying to roast him about his age after celebrating his 81st birthday. In a post on his Instagram, Biden shared a picture of himself celebrating turning 81 and instantly made it a joke, subtly mocking every one of his haters who like to criticise him because of his age. In the picture, he sat at a table where a cake with 81 lit candles sat in front of him. The photo was captioned: “Thanks for the birthday well-wishes today, everyone. Turns out on your 146th birthday, you run out of space for candles!” Shapiro reacted to the picture in a post on X/Twitter, claiming it is “one of the worst campaign blunders” he has witnessed. Shapiro wrote: “This is legitimately one of the worst campaign blunders I have ever seen. Everything about it is idiotic. “He’s gripping the table as though he’s about to keel over. He's got the rictus smile, illuminated by fire. This cake looks like somebody set the world on fire. Which he did.” In the replies, Shapiro’s post got absolutely ridiculed for being nonsense and for demonstrating how he seems to get riled up over nothing. One person commented: “Ben is a fascinating case study in how you can pretend so hard to be upset about stupid things that you actually start believing it.” “A picture 99% of the electorate will never even see is one of the worst campaign blunders you’ve ever seen? Ben is a complete moron,” another argued. Someone else asked: “Has Ben lost his mind and he really sees these things or is he just trying to convince you to see what’s not there?” Another argued, “I’d rather have 81 candles on my cake than 91 criminal charges hanging over my head!”, referencing the former Republican president Donald Trump who faces a number of criminal charges against him. Someone else added: “Even if any of what this imbecile says is true it will impact exactly zero votes. A real political genius this ‘Ben Shapiro’.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Google will begin deleting inactive Gmail, Photos and Drive accounts from next week, the technology giant has warned. The purge is part of a major update to the platform, impacting all personal Google accounts that have been left dormant for at least two years. Millions of accounts may be at risk of being permanently deleted, with some users warning that among those affected could be parents who have set up accounts to share memories and milestones with young children. Google has already begun warning users that might be impacted, saying in a blog post earlier this year that the policy would come into effect in December 2023. “We are updating our inactivity policy for Google Accounts to two years across our products,” Ruth Kricheli, Google’s vice president of product management, wrote in a blog post in May. “This update aligns our policy with industry standards around retention and account deletion and also limits the amount of time Google retains your unused personal information.” The move is aimed at protecting active Google users from security threats like phishing scams and account hijacking. Old accounts that have not been used for years are typically at risk from hackers as they may use the same passwords that have been compromised in other security breaches, which are easily available on the dark web. Any account at risk of deletion will receive “multiple notifications” before any action is taken, Google said, including to any associated recovery email addresses. The tech giant has already begun sending emails to those affected, telling users it is “to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorised access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services”. Losing access to a Gmail account could also potentially prevent people from using other online platforms and services that are associated with that email address, even if they are not related to Google. In order to keep an account active and avoid being deleted, Google users are advised to open or send an email, use Google Drive, download an app on the Google Play Store, or simply make a Google Search while logged in to the account. Any account that has posted a video to YouTube will also not be impacted, regardless of when it was last active. Google did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent, or offer any further information about how many accounts may be impacted. Read More WhatsApp warning over fee to keep old messages Why barcodes are about to check out forever Gmail users receive urgent warning before account purge Don’t believe your eyes: how tech is changing photography forever WhatsApp warning over fee to keep old messages

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Lewis Hamilton insists Christian Horner is ‘stirring things’ after the Red Bull team principal claimed the Mercedes driver’s team approached him about a move earlier this year. A representative of Hamilton put out feelers about leaving Mercedes earlier this year, according to a report in the Daily Mail, with Red Bull and Ferrari both approached. However Hamilton, who has won six of his seven world titles at Mercedes, signed a new two-year contract with the Silver Arrows in September and in Abu Dhabi on Thursday denied Horner’s claim. “I know it’s [the story] has come from Christian, I don’t really understand what he’s been talking about,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “No one as far as I’m aware from my team has spoken to him. I haven’t spoken to Christian in years. “However he did reach out to me earlier on in the year about meeting up. But that’s it. I congratulated him on an amazing year and said ‘hopefully soon I’ll be able to fight against you guys in the near future.’ “That was it. I’m not really sure… I think he’s just stirring things. “There aren’t any confidential discussions. You know Christian… he loves that kind of stuff.” Horner told the Mail that he “can’t see Max and Lewis working out together”. Hamilton now has a deal until the end of the 2025 season with Mercedes while Max Verstappen has a long-term contract with Red Bull until 2028. “100% would be more than happy to race against him [Max] in an equal car,” Hamilton added. “Red Bull have done an amazing job and it is an incredible team. Any driver would love to drive with such a great group of people. “Moving from a car that’s not so great to a winning car from my perspective, that’s not a dream. The dream is always to start where we are and to build up to then winning. That’s why I’ve stayed with Mercedes.” Hamilton was heavily linked with Ferrari earlier in the season but put all speculation to bed when he penned a new £50m-a-year extension with Mercedes, a rise of approximately £10m. Hamilton has not won since December 2021 in Saudi Arabia. A week later, he lost the 2021 world championship to Verstappen on the final lap in controversial circumstances in Abu Dhabi. Mercedes have just won one race since, with George Russell’s first F1 victory in Brazil last year, while Hamilton has had 15 podiums since 2021 without a victory. Red Bull, meanwhile, have won 20 of the 21 races this season with Verstappen triumphant a record-breaking 18 times ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Read More Why are Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen missing first practice in Abu Dhabi? Hamilton ‘made contact with Red Bull and Ferrari’ before signing new Mercedes deal Guenther Steiner to produce new hit ‘workplace comedy’ show F1 Juniors broadcast an admirable idea – but all kids want to be is grown up Mick Schumacher returns to racing with Alpine in 2024 Lando Norris posts update from hospital after Las Vegas crash

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