TV’s Riley awarded £50,000 in libel case

RACHEL Riley has been awarded £50,000 in damages by a High Court judge after suing a political blogger for libel over an article alleging she was a “serial abuser” and had bullied a teenager. Ms Riley, who appears on the Channel 4 show Countdown, sued Mike Sivier after he published an article on his website, Vox Political, in January 2019. Mrs Justice Steyn said she had

“no hesitation” in finding that “the statement complained of was not only untrue, it was not even arguably true”.

Kirsty O’Connor Conservator Adrian Phippen (left) and Art and Antiques writer Duncan Phillipps with a portrait of William Shakespeare, by artist Robert Peake. Believed to be the only signed and dated image of the playwright created during his lifetime, it is on display at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, before going up for sale by private treaty, for a figure in excess of £10 million.