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Patrick Dempsey – from hero to Nero
Patrick Dempsey, ‘McDreamy’ of the long-running TV medical series Grey’s Anatomy until he parted company in 2015 with rumours of producer spats has been accused in an upcoming book of ‘terrorizing’ the set and upsetting certain cast and crew members. At the time he said he’d done 11 years of 15 hour days and … Read more
Boris J government – plus ca change
The day of the long knives reshuffle has turned out to be distinctly vanilla flavoured with a muted reception even from the right-wing media. The two key appointments of Michael Gove to Housing and Liz Truss to the Foreign Office are deemed to be Boris strategies for seeing off rivals. Truss had the highest approval … Read more
Libra Ingress – improvements come gradually
The next Ingress falls next Wednesday the 22nd as the Sun moves into Libra. Only Cardinal Ingresses – Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn – are regarded as proper ingresses; and there are mixed views about how useful they are or indeed which should take priority. The previous Cancer Ingress this year in late June did … Read more
John Mulaney – his image takes a beating
Comedy fans have been outraged by nice-guy and devoted-husband John Mulaney falling off his pedestal, divorcing his wife, finishing his second stint in rehab for alcoholism, cocaine and prescription drug abuse and becoming a baby daddy in a celebrity romance. Aah the Hollywood gap – between the image and the reality. Mulaney, 26 … Read more
Charlotte Wahl Johnson – a class act
Charlotte Johnson Wahl, a gifted painter and mother of Boris Johnson, has died aged 79. She is described as the moral authority in the family, warm and intelligent with a radical outlook and came from a distinguished family of ‘rich socialists.’ Her father was a legal academic who helped to draft the Universal Declaration of … Read more
China – commerce running into a bubble
China’s micro-managing and communist government still oversees an astonishingly capitalist economy. Regulators have pledged to clean up the corporate sector by letting “debt bombs” like the sprawling Evergrande Group collapse. It grew lush on the epic property boom of the late 1990s, over-diversified into multiple businesses and ran into trouble. It is now a rickety … Read more
Britney Spears – looking for a fresh start + Frances Farmer
Britney Spears appears to be celebrating the prospective conservatorship split from her father by getting engaged to her five-year boyfriend Sam Asghari, an actor and fitness trainer. She clearly dislikes her father and while he has filed to ratify the split it won’t be an easy matter for a complete break to be accomplished. … Read more
Abimael Guzman & Pol Pot – ideological terrorists
Abimael Guzmán, ‘a Marxist megalomaniac’ and former philosophy professor whose Shining Path movement inflicted a reign of terror on Peru, has died in prison. He rose from academic obscurity to mesmerise his followers into provoking a civil war in which 70,000 died, until the atrocities he set in motion lost the sympathy of the people … Read more
Forum manners – respect
Can I suggest – request, insist – that posts be respectful? It is possible to disagree with A.N.other without treating them and their views with hostility and contempt. Just because they don’t agree it doesn’t mean that a) they are necessarily wrong or b) an idiot. Restricting comments to the subject matter rather than attacking … Read more