Nigella Lawson is ditching extravagant dinner parties for more relaxed mealtimes with friends. You might have assumed that the celebrity chef and food writer, who is known for the polished, decadant style of her TV cooking shows, regularly hosts glamorous dinner parties for her friends and family. But in a new interview, Lawson, 63, has explained that this is now a rare occurrence, and that she prefers to serve Twiglets to her friends instead. “I’ll have a person or a couple of people over quite often and I keep planning to have people round in a proper, grown-up way but I haven’t yet,” the food writer told The Times, explaining she has got “out of the habit” of hosting dinner parties. Lawson revealed that she prefers a more relaxed environment and would happily encourage her friends to arrive at her home wearing their pyjamas. “I’m very happy for a friend to come over in their pyjamas to have supper.” “I recently served Twiglets as a starter,” she told the publication. “There were some Americans there and I felt it my duty to introduce them.” She added that the idea of clearing plates, knives and forks before the main course is “so unrelaxing” and can make things feel “choreographed”. “I like to do a big plate of food, taking it out and seeing everyone eat. I like abundance and I feel that’s easier to do with one course,” she said. When she does host friends, Lawson prefers a more laid-back buffet-style dinner. At her open-plan home in Chelsea, she has two tables, one for the people to be seated at, and one for the food. “I think narrow tables are better for conversation, so we sit at one and I put the dinner on the other so people can help themselves.” It comes as Lawson responded to a viral “girl dinner” trend that is sweeping the internet. On Saturday, The New York Times detailed the new TikTok phenomenon in an article with the headline: “Is It a Meal? A Snack? No, It’s ‘Girl Dinner’”. According to the publication, the phrase was coined a few months ago by TikTok user Olivia Maher, who posted a video in which she spoke about the virtues of a medieval-style dinner. “I can’t find the TikTok right now but a girl just came on here and said in the Medieval times, peasants had to eat nothing but bread and cheese and how awful that was,” she says in the clip, which has since been watched more then one million times. “And she was like, ‘That’s my ideal meal,’” Maher added before showing her dinner to the camera, revealing a selection of bread, cheese, grapes and pickles. The article has prompted a mixed response on social media, with some accusing it of promoting disordered eating while others claim the diet is nothing new and mimics those adopted by mediterranean cultures. Lawson responded to the article by tweeting: “And we call them Picky Bits.” Read More Woman shares co-worker’s ‘infuriating’ response to her decision to not have children 5 late summer blooms to plant now Buckingham Palace responds to Joe Biden’s ‘protocol breach’ with King Charles ‘We call them Picky Bits’: Nigella Lawson responds to viral ‘Girl Dinner’ trend Get set for Wimbledon with top pastry chef’s strawberry recipes How to cook kohlrabi

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Lauren James has apologised to Michelle Alozie for the incident which led to her being sent off during England’s last-16 World Cup win over Nigeria and vowed to learn from the experience. The forward was dismissed for deliberately standing on the back of Nigeria defender Alozie with three minutes of normal time remaining in Brisbane. England survived the dismissal to advance to the quarter-finals 4-2 on penalties after the game finished goalless following extra time. In response to a tweet from Alozie, James posted: “All my love and respect to you. I am sorry for what happened. “Also, for our England fans and my team-mates, playing with and for you is my greatest honour and I promise to learn from my experience.” James became the fourth England player to be sent off in a World Cup knockout match after David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and current Lionesses captain Millie Bright. England boss Sarina Wiegman admitted James had “lost her emotions” during a moment of indiscretion which could see the 21-year-old miss the remainder of the World Cup through suspension. Opponent Alozie had earlier tweeted in defence of James. She posted: “Abeg, rest. We are playing on the world’s stage. This game is one of passion, insurmountable emotions, and moments. All respect for Lauren James.” James faces an automatic one-match ban, which could be extended to three games by FIFA’s disciplinary committee. England take on Colombia in the last eight on Saturday in Sydney. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Donald Trump supporters and right-wing media outlets are incorrectly claiming that the federal government is seeking the death penalty as part of its four-count indictment against the former president for allegedly seeking to overturn the 2020 election. After the charges were announced on Tuesday, the claims quickly spread across conservative corners of the Internet. Mr Trump’s Truth Social platform sent users an alert that read “New charges against Trump carry DEATH PENALTY,” while conservative influencer Dinesh D’Souza claimed on X the alleged death sentence “proves how scared they are of Trump!” One MAGA Internet personality wrote on social media, “This is how you start a war.” A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office told The Independent these claims are “not accurate.” “The indictment does not contain the special findings required,” the DoJ official said. The misinterpretation stems from one of the federal statutes that prosecutors are accusing Mr Trump of violating, Section 241 of Title 18 of US Code. As The Independent has reported, the law is part of a landmark set of provisions passed in the brutal aftermath of the Civil War to prosecute those who sought to deprive the civil rights of newly enfranchised Black Americans. The punishment for violating this section, according to the Department of Justice, is a felony and up to 10 years in prison. That penalty can be extended to life in prison or death if the government “proves an aggravating factor (such as that the offense involved kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, or resulted in death)”, per the DoJ. Five people, a mix of police officers and rioters, did die during the January 6 insurrection, but, as The Washington Post noted, nowhere in the lengthy indictment against Mr Trump are prosecutors arguing the former president is responsible for any such aggravating circumstances. (Police officer Michael Byrd, who shot January 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt, was cleared of wrongdoing by the DoJ and the Capitol police in April of 2021, and two of the men who attacked Brian Sicknick, a Washington police officer who died during the insurrection, have been sentenced to prison.) Rather, the DoJ is alleging that Mr Trump and his associates knew he lost the election, but launched a multi-part conspiracy to hold onto power anyway, a scheme that included spreading false claims, attempting to send false slates of electors to Washington, and pressuring officials to meddle with the election certification process. The scheme was largely focused on a handful of counties in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin, all of which have large communities of Black and Latino voters, who tend to vote for Democrats. “The attack on our nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” special counsel Jack Smith said Tuesday in a press conference describing the indictment. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the US government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” As Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the voting rights and elections programme at the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, told The Independent, the civil rights statute in question has been used to prosecute officials for attempting to alter election results in the past. He pointed to the example of the 1915 case US v Mosley, where Oklahoma officials were punished for trying to exclude votes from a final tally. “If you read that case, you’d never be able to tell that it’s about race. And there’s not a word about race mentioned, but that’s really the story underlying it,” Mr Morales-Doyle told The Independent. “And that’s really, throughout our nation’s history, the battle over our democracy. The battle over the right to vote has not always but pretty consistently also been a fight that has race at its heart,” he added. “And that’s true now still, and I think it is an overlooked thread underlying much of the story about Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.” Prosecutors may not be arguing Mr Trump caused conduct worthy of the death penalty, but the former president’s sentencing still will be a delicate issue. "Possible jail time for Donald Trump if he’s convicted of one, some, or all the criminal cases is a fascinating but speculative business," former federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek. "As for the federal cases charging Trump with crimes, the sentencing guidelines – which assign numerical values to various factors to create a range for a presumptive sentence – will prove inadequate." In regards to Mr Trump, both "the crimes and the defendant are singular.” Alex Woodward contributed reporting to this story. Read More Trump’s election fraud claims were always bogus. Will his history of lies finally catch up to him? 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