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Kevin Spacey – is a redemption on the cards?
Kevin Spacey unceremoniously dumped by Netflix in 2017 over allegations of sexual harassment and shunned since despite being cleared by courts in the UK and the US of allegations is being supported by fellow thespians who insist he has been badly treated. Stephen Fry accepted Spacey had been ‘clumsy’ and ‘inappropriate’ but should not be … Read more
Slovakia – assassination attempt raises tension
Slovakia is in turmoil after an assassination attempt on its pro-Russian prime minister, Robert Fico, by a disturbed, possibly politically-motivated pensioner. Slovakia is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered by Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic from which it split in 1993. A developed country with an advanced high-income economy, it is … Read more
Anita Pallenberg – a walk on the dark side
‘Dazzling, beautiful, hypnotic and unsettling’ was how the ‘wicked Anita’ Pallenberg was described by her friend Marianne Faithfull. The epitome of the 1960s sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, she ricocheted amongst the Rolling Stones, from Brian Jones, to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. She did stupendous quantities of heroin, indulged in a fascination for … Read more
Alice Munro – a connoisseur of ordinary life
Alice Munro, the Canadian Nobel Literature Prize-winner, renowned as the master of the modern short story and compared to Chekhov, has died at 92. She drew on the lives of her neighbours for stories which became parables about the tests of character faced by people everywhere and managed to invest the humdrum events and parochial … Read more
The Moon – roaming through the astro-houses
The astrological Moon – soft, protective, sensitive, maternal, sentimental, moody, mysterious, evasive, programmed by the past, a seeker of comfort – has as many faces as there are different kinds of mothers. In mythology the renowned mothers: Demeter for one is so possessive of her daughter Persephone she wreaks destruction on earth when separated … Read more
Putin – reshuffle shifts tactics on Ukraine
Putin has seized the start of his fifth term with all-systems-change Uranus in the 10th to shake up his senior security officials and rein in military spending, indicating a major shift in the handling of the Ukraine war. Out goes Defence Chief Sergei Shoigu, rumoured to be involved in corruption as well as criticized for … Read more
Georgia – protests as the young look west
Tens of thousands of Georgians have demonstrated in Tbilisi to protest a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the government which is seen as a move towards authoritarianism and restriction of free speech. A commentator said: “What’s happening here right now is an absolute face-off between people who want Georgia to have a European future … Read more
Barron Trump – dynastic strains
Barron Trump, just turned 18, briefly emerged into the political arena as a Florida delegate to the Republican convention in July only to be hastily withdrawn by his mother Melania, who has always been protective of his privacy. This is only en passant since the astrology could be interpreted either way. But since he … Read more
Shirley Conran – a freedom fighter for women
Shirley Conran, a dynamo and trailblazer – designer, journalist, novelist and campaigner to liberate women in the kitchen, bedroom and at school – has died. Born 21 September 1932 3am Hendon, England with a wealthy, small businessman father who was also a violent alcoholic, she studied painting at Cheslea, married designer Terence Conran in … Read more