Mary Earps: Misogyny against women footballers like Joey Barton’s ‘a reflection of society’


Tom Morgan
Mon, 5 February 2024 


Mary Earps is on the cover of the next issue of Women's Health - Women's Health UK/Mark Cant

England goalkeeper Mary Earps believes attention-seeking criticism of women’s football such as that from Joey Barton reflects sexist views shared by “people across the country”.

Rallying behind Emma Hayes’ claim that the sport is “routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny”, Earps said the “biggest disappointment” is society-wide prejudice.

Hayes had indirectly addressed comments made by those such as ex-footballer Barton, who said women “should not be talking with any kind of authority” about men’s football.

But in a new interview, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner says further sexist reaction to the outgoing Chelsea manager’s comments effectively proved her point.

“Sport is a vehicle for change, but it’s also a representation of society,” Earps says in the March issue of Women’s Health UK. “The [sexist] comments on that [video of Emma, speaking at a press conference] are really telling. This isn’t just what one person thinks, this is what people across the country think – probably in the world. And that’s the biggest disappointment to me.”

Earps said that it can be “hard to give a calm response” when asked about misogyny in football, but added she is unsure an “aggressive response actually helps our cause”.

“That’s the irony of the whole situation,” she said. “And I think anyone who’s a woman knows that; it’s not just football. I don’t think there are many women in the world that will have not experienced sexism and misogyny of some kind.”

Mary Earps was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year after helping England reach the Women's World Cup final - Women's Health UK/Mark Cant

In an apparent attempt to drive up interest in his new media platforms, out of work manager Barton has repeatedly attacked football coverage by women’s pundits and presenters in recent weeks.

Hayes and Earps have not named the former Manchester City and QPR player directly, but Hayes said in January: “I don’t expect any individual personality to understand their privilege. Nonetheless you only have to see scores of women across the internet or in the business - whether that’s coaches, presenters, players - we’re routinely used to dealing with systemic misogyny, bullying and behaviour that has been pretty normal for a large part of the football public.”

Earps, who also landed the Fifa Best women’s goalkeeper of the year also addressed her long-standing disappointment with Nike for failing to sell replicas of her goalkeeper jersey during last year’s World Cup in Australia.

“It was sad on a personal note that my friends and family couldn’t buy my shirt, but it wasn’t about me,” she said. “It was more about, I felt, the message being sent to young kids especially, but [also] to a whole demographic of people who have a huge passion and interest in goalkeeping. I felt like they were being shunned.”

She said she “one million per cent” had doubts about whether she should speak out against Nike.” I really like to lead by example and be really focused on football,” she added.” Unfortunately, when it comes to this sort of stuff, sadly that isn’t always enough…If I hadn’t performed well at the World Cup [the narrative would have] been like, ‘Yeah, no wonder no one likes the goalkeeper,’ [and] ‘just focus on your job’.”

In October, Nike finally relented to pressure and released a replica for the high street. “Ultimately, the end goal was to get the shirts on sale, and I feel we’ve achieved that,” Earps said.

‌Read the full Mary Earps interview in the March issue of Women’s Health UK, also available as a digital edition

Sexist language increasing in schools as more boys are exposed to misogyny online

Louisa Clarence-Smith
Tue, 6 February 2024 

A study found 70 per cent of teachers have seen a rise in sexist language in the classroom over the last year -

Sexist language is increasing in schools as more boys are exposed to misogynistic online content, a study has suggested.

Research commissioned by Vodafone found 70 per cent of teachers have seen a rise in sexist language in the classroom over the last year, while 69 per cent of boys have encountered posts promoting misogyny.

The study, commissioned to mark Safer Internet Day, warned that AI-powered algorithms pushing content to boys online was a key part of the problem. The research indicated that hateful content was often being seen when users were searching for other innocent material, such as fitness or gaming content.

The research also found that 42 per cent of parents had heard their sons make inappropriate comments because of what they have seen online, including comments that were sexual, violent or degrading about women and girls.

The study included a survey, carried out by Opinium, of 1,000 parents and boys aged between 11 and 14, as well as a poll of more than 4,000 secondary school teachers.
Hateful ideologies moving offline

Nicki Lyons, chief corporate affairs and sustainability officer at Vodafone UK, said: “Every parent knows being online is part of everyday life for kids today – but it’s imperative we don’t miss the boat on AI when it comes to baking in safety at the start of the journey.”

The research comes as another study, conducted by University College London, the University of Kent and the Association of School and College Leaders, found that social media algorithms were amplifying misogynistic content to teenagers.

Researchers who interviewed young people and school leaders found that hateful ideologies and misogynistic tropes had moved offline and into schools and were becoming embedded in youth culture.

Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, the study’s principal investigator, said “algorithmic processes” on social media sites “target people’s vulnerabilities” and “gamify harmful content”.

“As young people microdose on topics like self-harm, or extremism, to them, it feels like entertainment,” she said.

“Harmful views and tropes are now becoming normalised among young people. Online consumption is impacting young people’s offline behaviours, as we see these ideologies moving off screens and into school yards.

“Further, adults are often unaware of how harmful algorithmic processes function, or indeed how they could feed into their own social media addictions, making parenting around these issues difficult."

‘We need to give children a voice’

Over the weekend, the mother of murdered teenager Brianna Ghey called for social media apps to be banned on smartphones for under-16s, and for searches for inappropriate material to be flagged to parents.

One of Brianna’s killers, Scarlett Jenkinson, who was 15 at the time of the murder, had watched videos of torture and murder online.

New research from the UK Safer Internet Centre found that about three quarters of parents and carers had safety worries as advances in technologies such as AI, virtual reality and new social media apps continue to accelerate.

Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC chief executive, said it was important young people were also given a voice on online safety.

He said: “Today’s children are the first generation to be truly growing up online, but decisions about the online world are still being made without them.

“And while technology is more popular than ever, avoiding online harm has become more complicated. This year’s theme of young people inspiring change draws attention to the importance of adults listening to and acting on the valuable insights and expertise of children.

“If we are to ensure that every child is safe online then we need to give children a voice on what that safety looks like to them.”

'Missing' girls: sex selective abortion in Albania fuels gender gap

Briseida MEMA
Tue, 6 February 2024 

A dominant patriarchal culture across the Balkans has pushed many families to pin their hopes on a son (Adnan Beci)

When Lina discovered she was pregnant with another girl, she decided to terminate the pregnancy, after her husband grew increasingly violent over the prospect of having a fourth daughter instead of a boy.

The decision was one that has become relatively common in her native Albania and across the Balkans, where a dominant patriarchal culture has pushed many families to pin their hopes on a son.

"When my husband learned that our fourth baby would still be a girl and that I would not be able to give him a boy, he became so violent he almost killed me," Lina, who used a pseudonym to hide her identity, told AFP through tears.

"I was ready to risk my life not to give birth to this baby," the 40-year-old added.

She said she continues to suffer from genital lesions caused by the procedure, administered in unhygienic conditions three years ago.

By even the most modest estimates Albania is "missing" thousands of girls, following years of sex-selective abortions that led to the termination of pregnancies by families hoping for male children.

"When parents learn that the foetus is a girl, they choose, for various reasons, to abort rather than keep it," Manuela Bello, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in Albania, told AFP.

"Over the past ten years 21,000 girls have been missing in Albania."

For families that already have a daughter, roughly a quarter said they would choose to have an abortion rather than have another girl in the household, according to research compiled by the UN.

- 'Social imbalance' -

Between 2000 and 2020, Albania ranked fourth in the world for the size of its difference between births of girls and boys -- with an average of 111 males born for every 100 girls, UN figures show.

An uptick in education has helped reduce the margin slightly in the past four years, including an awareness campaign by the UNFPA office in Albania.

Figures remain "higher than the biological average which is around 105 boy births for every 100 girls," explained Arjan Gjonca, a professor specialising in demography at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

"But if the phenomenon persists and if there are no rapid legal measures... the consequences in the near future could lead to social imbalance," warned Gjonca.

Abortion is legal in Albania until the 12th week of pregnancy, with special permission from doctors needed for later-term terminations.

Terminations linked to prenatal gender screenings are illegal.

But the growing availability of a blood test which makes it easier to know the sex of a foetus much earlier means it is harder to stop the practice.

"It is increasingly difficult to prove that the pregnancy was interrupted because the foetus was a girl," said Tirana-based gynaecologist Rubena Mosiu.

Women in Albania are increasingly turning to the simple test, which is available during the seventh week of pregnancy and can tell the baby's gender with more than 90 percent accuracy.

Permission from a doctor is not required for the screening.

- 'Bitter family history'-

Despite a rise in awareness, deep-seated values can be hard to overturn.

Across large swaths of the Balkans, a male child is believed to be "the pillar of the family", while girls are seen as a "burden or a weaker sex in an aggressive society", said Anila Hoxha, an investigative journalist and women rights activists from Tirana.

In neighbouring Montenegro, sex-selective abortions remain a perennial issue, despite recent improvement to the country's demographic imbalance.

"There is a direct correlation between patriarchal social norms and the preference of sons over daughters," said Maja Raicevic, who heads the Women's Rights Center in the capital Podgorica.

Women's subordinate role in the family, along with their economic dependence on men because many do not inherit property, only fuels greater levels of inequality.

In 2017, the centre launched a campaign called "#Unwanted".

The programme aims to dispel basic patriarchal notions by calling on Montenegrins "to ask themselves what values are taught that makes one sex desirable, while another does not even have the right to be born", explained Raicevic.

Often the biggest challenges come from tensions within the family.

Back in Albania, Maria -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- said she confronted enormous pressure from her mother-in-law and brother-in-law after finding out she was pregnant with a baby girl.

"They were very unhappy," she said during an interview with the UNFPA.

"My mother-in-law even offered to take me to have an abortion at the home of someone she knew who performs abortions in the old, risky ways," she added.

But in the end, Maria refused to give into their pressure.

"I decided to keep the baby," said Maria. "But I won't tell my daughter about our bitter family history."

bme-ljv/cbo/ds/rox

Colombia and ELN rebels announce ceasefire extension


Leticia PINEDA
Tue, 6 February 2024 

Rebels of the National Liberation Army (ELN) patrol the Baudo river in Choco province, Colombia on October 26, 2023 (Daniel Munoz)

The Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group on Tuesday announced a six-month extension to a ceasefire in effect since August, with the ELN agreeing to suspend kidnappings for ransom.

The two sides had started a sixth round of peace talks in Cuba last month, seeking to agree an extension of a ceasefire that expired at the end of January.

"We have agreed to extend as of 00:00 hours on February 6, 2024, for one hundred and eighty (180) days, the Bilateral, National and Temporary Ceasefire (CFBNT)," read a joint statement posted by the ELN delegation on X, formerly Twitter.


"The (ELN), in order to contribute to the development of the bilateral, national and temporary ceasefire, is unilaterally and temporarily suspending economic kidnappings", the statement, signed by both sides, added.

The ceasefire, which expired on January 29, had been extended by seven days last week to give negotiators more time.

Colombia's Minister of Defense, Ivan Velasquez, had travelled to Havana just over a week ago to take part in the negotiations.

The closing ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Cuban capital on Tuesday morning.

- 'Total peace' -

The rebel group had jeopardized the peace process, which began in 2022, when it kidnapped the father of Colombian footballer Luis Diaz last October, releasing him 12 days later.

Talks with the ELN resumed in November 2022 after the election of Colombia's first-ever leftist president, Gustavo Petro.

The ELN pledged during the previous round of peace negotiations in December to suspend kidnappings as part of the last ceasefire extension.

Petro's administration has held talks with Colombia's main armed groups, including the ELN, dissidents of the Marxist Farc group -- who reject a historic 2016 peace agreement -- paramilitary groups and drug traffickers.

Petro took office with the stated goal of achieving "total peace" in a country ravaged by decades of fighting between the security forces, leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

But he has faced many obstacles and has been severely criticized by the opposition, while some armed groups have sought to increase their territorial influence.

Several rounds of negotiations with the ELN have been held in Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba, which act as guarantors along with the governments of Brazil, Chile and Norway.

The group, which is estimated to have around 5,800 fighters, has been fighting the Colombian state since it was founded in 1964 in the wake of the Cuban revolution.

lp-jb/dhw/aha

Thai government says will ban recreational cannabis use

"The use for fun is considered wrong."


AFP
Tue, 6 February 2024 

A cannabis dispensary store in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok (MANAN VATSYAYANA)

The Thai government will urgently move a bill to ban the recreational use of cannabis, the health minister said on Tuesday, after the kingdom decriminalised the drug in 2022.

Cannabis was taken off the list of banned narcotics in June 2022 under the previous government, which included the pro-legalisation Bhumjaithai party.

The move prompted hundreds of cannabis dispensaries to sprout around the country, particularly in Bangkok, provoking concern from critics who urged the need for tighter legislation.


On Tuesday, the kingdom's health minister said the new bill -- which bans the recreational use of cannabis -- will be proposed to the cabinet meeting next week.

"The new bill will be amended from the existing one to only allow the use of cannabis for health and medicinal purposes," Chonlanan Srikaew told reporters.

"The use for fun is considered wrong."

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who took office last August, has frequently voiced his opposition to the recreational use of the drug and said it should only be allowed for medicinal use.

There was fresh pressure from the public last weekend after attendees of British rock band Coldplay's shows in Bangkok complained on social media saying "the entire concert smelled like marijuana".

tak/pdw/aha

New species of flying dinosaur discovered on Isle of Skye

Joe Pinkstone
Tue, 6 February 2024

The specimen belongs to a group known as Darwinoptera, with many similar dinosaurs found in modern-day China - NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM AND WITTON/PA

A new species of flying dinosaur has been discovered on the Isle of Skye.

The winged reptile lived between 168 and 166 million years ago and has been named Ceoptera evansae by the palaeontologists who discovered it.

The animal lived during the Middle Jurassic period and was first unearthed during a field trip in 2006. Painstaking excavations revealed an incomplete skeleton made up of the shoulders, wings, legs and backbone.

Almost two decades of work on the fossil at Elgol have involved physically preparing the specimen and taking scans of the bones, some of which remain completely embedded in rock.

Researchers say the specimen belongs to a group of pterosaurs known as Darwinoptera, with many similar dinosaurs found in modern-day China.

Excavating the fossil has involved almost two decades of work

 - KEVIN WEBB/TRUSTEES OF NHM LONDON/PA

The Skye individual is rare, the scientists say, and could help shed light on the evolution of pterosaurs.

The study, published in the Journal Of Vertebrate Paleontology, suggests Darwinoptera may have been considerably more diverse than previously thought, persisting for more than 25 million years.

Professor Paul Barrett, a researcher at the Natural History Museum, said: “Ceoptera helps to narrow down the timing of several major events in the evolution of flying reptiles.

“Its appearance in the Middle Jurassic of the UK was a complete surprise, as most of its close relatives are from China.

“It shows that the advanced group of flying reptiles to which it belongs appeared earlier than we thought and quickly gained an almost worldwide distribution.”

Ceoptera evansae gets the first part of its name from the Scottish Gaelic word “cheo”, meaning mist or fog, and the Latin word “ptera”, meaning wing.

The second part, evansae, honours British palaeontologist Professor Susan E Evans for her years of scientific work, particularly on the Isle of Skye.

A 3D model drawn up of the newly-discovered species

 - MARTIN-SILVERSTONE ET AL/ JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY/PA

As the Elgol coastal site is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the team led by Prof Barrett could only collect specimens from rocks that had fallen on to the beach.

But while crawling over boulders to examine these fossils, the researchers noticed a few bones sticking out, which has now been revealed as the new pterosaur.

The researchers said that pterosaur fossils from the Middle Jurassic period are rare and mostly incomplete, hindering attempts to understand more about how these creatures evolved.

Lead author Dr Liz Martin-Silverstone, a palaeobiologist from the University of Bristol, said: “The time period that Ceoptera is from is one of the most important periods of pterosaur evolution, and is also one in which we have some of the fewest specimens, indicating its significance.

“To find that there were more bones embedded within the rock, some of which were integral in identifying what kind of pterosaur Ceoptera is, made this an even better find than initially thought.

“It brings us one step closer to understanding where and when the more advanced pterosaurs evolved.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Empire of Selfridges tycoon faces fraud complaint

Hannah Boland
Mon, 5 February 2024 

Signa Development, part of Rene Benko’s property empire, filed for insolvency in late December - Georg Hochmuth/AFP

The property empire of Selfridges tycoon Rene Benko is facing a criminal fraud complaint as creditors push for an investigation into alleged “unlawful transactions”.

Lenders to Signa have filed a criminal complaint with Austrian anti-fraud prosecutors, raising concerns over “a considerable outflow of assets of more than €662m (£567m)” from one of its holding companies to shareholders and sister companies in the run-up to its collapse.

Signa Development – part of the Benko property empire, which is an investor in Selfridges alongside Thai company Central Group – filed for insolvency in late December. It was said to be one of the most cash generative units of the Signa empire.


According to the Financial Times, the lenders claimed there was a “presumably deliberate” lack of transparency before Signa Development declared it was bust.

In the claim, they said: “It is suspected that the asset transactions described were carried out in wilful violation of the mandatory capital maintenance regulations [of the company] and to the detriment of Signa Development and its creditors.”

A spokesman for Austria’s State Prosecutor for Economic Crime and Corruption declined to comment on any specific complaints. Signa did not respond to requests for comment.

It is the latest twist in the collapse of one of the world’s largest property empires, which had counted many major banks and wealth funds among its lenders. At the time it failed, Signa owed European banks almost £7bn. The company was pushed to the brink by high interest rates and plummeting valuations.

It is currently going through a self-administration process whereby it is racing to raise cash and last month auctioned off doormats and coat hangers. The Signa business is understood to be hugely complex and involves around 1,000 different entities.

Alongside Selfridges, Mr Benko’s empire included half of New York’s Chrysler building and the historic five-star Bauer Hotel on Venice’s Grand Canal. It bought the British luxury department store for £4bn in 2022 together with Central Group.

Late last year, Central opted to convert a loan in the trading company of Selfridges to become the majority shareholder in the group.

Computer scientist claims ‘Spy in the bag’ helped to create Bitcoin, court hears

James Titcomb
Mon, 5 February 2024 

Australian computer scientist Craig Wright arriving at the High Court in London on Monday - Hannah McKay/Reuters

An MI6 officer found dead in a holdall bag in his London flat 14 years ago was instrumental in the creation of Bitcoin, according to a man who claims to be its inventor.

The High Court heard on Monday that Craig Wright, an Australian programmer, allegedly named Gareth Williams as a key player in Bitcoin’s creation during separate proceedings in the US.

The allegation was made amid a bitter legal battle between Mr Wright and the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), an industry group funded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.


The broader dispute revolves around whether Mr Wright is Bitcoin’s inventor.

COPA alleges that Mr Wright’s claims about Mr Williams being one of three “key people” behind Bitcoin is a pattern of him having “implausible dealings with people who have died”.

It is alleged that Mr Wright also claimed to have known Dave Kleiman, a forensics expert who died in 2013, and David Rees, a British computer scientist who helped decode Nazi communications at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.

COPA argues that Mr Wright claimed to have spoken to Mr Williams in 2011 – a year after he had died.

Mr Williams was a codebreaker on secondment from GCHQ when he was discovered inside a zipped and padlocked bag in his central London flat 14 years ago.

At the opening of the five-week trial on Monday, Jonathan Hough KC, representing COPA, called Mr Wright’s claim “a brazen lie and elaborate false narrative supported by forgery on an industrial scale”.

Mr Wright, who appeared in court wearing a grey double-breasted pinstripe suit, has denied that he is a liar. His own legal argument did not mention Mr Williams.

COPA claims that Mr Wright has failed to provide genuine proof of his claims and that his evidence consists of doctored documents.

Mr Wright’s barrister Lord Grabiner KC said Mr Wright had “spent many years devoted to studying and working on concepts underpinning Bitcoin” adding that there was “clear evidence” that he had created Bitcoin.

Mr Wright is expected to begin giving evidence on Tuesday.

Migrant centre riot leads to 14 arrests in Italy


Our Foreign Staff
Mon, 5 February 2024 

A riot at a migrant detention centre near Rome, which broke out after the suicide of a young man being held there, has resulted in the arrest of 14 people.

Two police officers and a soldier were injured in the disturbance on Sunday when detainees set fire to mattresses, threw other objects, and forced their way out into a car park, Italian police said in a statement.

Officers fired tear gas as they struggled to regain control of the Ponte Galeria facility, a holding centre for undocumented migrants, which is close to the city’s main airport at Fiumicino.

The trouble began after the discovery of the body of a 21-year-old man from Guinea who had taken his own life.

The Ponte Galeria detention centre near Rome is being used to house undocumented migrants - REUTERS

Italy’s Coalition for Freedom and Civil Rights (CILD) said migrants held in such centres were being denied access to proper healthcare and legal defence.

Police unions complained that security was inadequate and they feared more serious consequences in the future.

“The repatriation centres are real time bombs,” said Fabio Conesta, secretary general of the Mosap police officers’ union.

Dealing with migration is a major challenge for Giorgia Meloni’s government, which pledged a new partnership with Africa at a summit last week.

Some 157,600 migrants reached Italy last year by boat, the largest number since 2016, undermining Ms Meloni’s electoral pledge to halt the flow of unauthorised arrivals.

Farmers block Dutch-Belgian border in anti-EU protest

PETTY BOURGEOIS REVANCHISTS

James Crisp
Mon, 5 February 2024 

Dutch farmers block the border between the Netherlands and Belgium in both directions

Angry farmers teamed up on Monday to block the Belgian-Dutch border, as demonstration leaders vowed to disrupt this year’s European elections in an escalation of anti-EU protests spreading across the continent.

Traffic between the Belgian city of Liege and Maastricht in the Netherlands was brought to a standstill in both directions as dozens of tractors from the two countries descended on the main highways across the frontier.

Europe’s farmers are revolting against EU net zero policies, high costs, cheap imports – including from Ukraine – and low prices for their produce.

Their protest movement has spread across the continent, with promises of disruptive demonstrations in the lead-up to the European Parliamentary elections in June.

Belgian police estimated that more than 1,300 tractors blocked central Brussels last Thursday as European Union leaders met in the Belgian capital for crunch talks over an aid package for Ukraine.

The farmers have since tried to block borders and supermarket distribution centres in a bid to have their discontent heard.

Melanie Broers, a Belgian farmer, told the RTBF broadcaster on Monday: “Farmers are still angry.”

He added: “We have been demonstrating in Belgium for more than a week… There are no concrete measures taken by the Belgian government.”

The protest at the Belgian-Dutch frontier ended in the afternoon, with police still warning people to avoid the area because of the congestion.

Denny Hegel, a farmer from Teuven, told Le Vif magazine: “We still have to milk the cows. In addition, we do not want to make people suffer unnecessarily, because at rush hour, we will have left again.”

Meanwhile, supermarkets have warned it could take them days before their shelves are fully stocked again after the protests started to hit their supplies.

Aldi said in a statement: “The actions have had a major impact on the supply.”

Roel Dekelver, a spokesman for the Delhaize supermarket chain, added: “We hope that the entire range will be normalised again by Wednesday.”

Fresh fruit and vegetables have been hit the hardest, with Colruyt, a supermarket chain, warning it could take two weeks for “stores to be replenished 100 per cent”.

Italian farmers head to Rome to protest against EU ‘betrayal’ - Reuters

Meanwhile, a convoy of 250 tractors left Tuscany, the scene of earlier demonstrations, on Monday morning. It was expected to arrive on the Via Cassia, a main road leading into the Italian capital, later in the day.

The farmers are expected to congregate on the outskirts of Rome pending further protests later in the week in scenes reminiscent of similar protests that have paralysed cities across Europe.

Danilo Calvani, one of the protest leaders, said: “We will encircle Rome and not just for one day.”

Mr Calvani added that “the mobilisation will begin from Thursday”.

He was speaking after meeting police chiefs in Rome to thrash out details of where and when the protest will be held.

Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, claimed on Monday that her Right-wing coalition had done “everything possible” to help farmers since coming to power a year and a half ago.

The farmers have demanded a platform at this week’s Sanremo Song Festival, a popular Eurovision-style contest which attracts millions of viewers in Italy.

Mr Calvini was one of the leaders of the Forconi, or the Pitchforks, a populist, anti-establishment movement that sprang up in Italy a decade ago before fizzling out.

At its height in 2003, the movement staged angry protests against politicians, the euro, the EU, austerity policies and high taxes. He now leads an organisation called “Betrayed Farmers”.

Mr Calvini said: “We’ve been betrayed by our MPs, by our political class. They have failed to defend us.”

Farmers protest in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy 

- CESARE ABBATE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Blame lies equally with successive Italian governments and the EU, he said.

Meanwhile, in Belgium, Bart Dickens, a dairy farmer and president of the Farmers Defence Force, told The Telegraph: “On June 4, there is going to be a huge, huge protest here in Belgium, from all countries, before the elections of the European Parliament.”

He added: “Europe is trying to kill us. Enough is enough, where is this going to stop? I don’t know. We are done with it.”

Emil Macho, the chairman of Slovakia’s Chamber of Agriculture and Food, last week told the country’s national council Slovak farmers were willing to join other European farmers in revolt against the bloc’s target of net zero by 2050.

“Farmers protesting, burning tyres, pouring manure on administrative centres in half of the EU countries – that is just a consequence of what is often caused by green fanaticism in the EU,” he said.