These are excerpts of the current news articles. For a full list and full stories click the News link above.
Trump tower crumbling at the base
“Trump taxes show chronic losses and years of tax avoidance” ran the New York Times headline as it claimed to have sight of Trump’s tax returns for the past 15 years. The revelations will damage Trump’s claim to be a successful businessman, capable of stewarding the US economy. He could be due a possible $100m bill … Read more
BBC under siege on the right flank
Boris in full-Trumpian spate is, according to reports, attempting to shoehorn two right-wingers into key broadcasting jobs, which should be put out to tender and a selection process. The prospect of Charles Moore, ex-Telegraph editor, as possible BBC chairman will invoke shudders of horror amongst the inmates. As will Paul Dacre, former Daily Mail editor, … Read more
Amy Barrett – a decision Trump may regret
Amy Coney Barrett has been nominated and will almost certainly be confirmed as the Supreme Court replacement for Ruth Ginsberg. Barrett is reckoned extremely intelligent and capable though tainted by her association with a charismatic Christian, essentially Roman Catholic though also ecumenical, group known as People of Praise. It excludes women from its higher leadership … Read more
Juliette Greco – passion born out of pain
Juliette Greco, the singer who became the muse of bohemian postwar Paris, the musical embodiment of the existentialist movement, has died aged 93. She was the darling of philosophers, poets, intellectuals and critics – Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir and others. Jean Paul Sartre, who composed lyrics for her, said “Gréco has a million poems … Read more
Sasha Swire – A ++ for betrayal and character assassination
A rollicking political diary described as “a merciless memoir“ has been slicing through the pervading gloom as a former minister’s wife took payback for being ignored by the Cameron clique. Sasha Swire, heretofore unknown to all but few, is now a household word for indiscretion and betrayal. One reviewer said her “diaries are treacherous, socially … Read more
Meghan and Harry rocking the Queen’s boat
Heading into her twilight years the Queen must be heaving a sigh of exasperation with her newly-transformed ‘woke’ grandson Harry as he heads (or is dragged) into a political minefield of a variety that will have courtiers screeching. He and lady wife intoning pious words about voting in the US election won’t fool anyone about … Read more
Singapore – pluses and minuses ahead
Singapore like everywhere else is in a panic over the economic hit from the virus. Tourism, international trade, travel, construction and offshore engineering sectors (migrant workers) are all experiencing a sharp downturn. But there are also areas of expansion – in electronics and precision engineering, biomedical manufacturing as well as finance and insurance, with a … Read more
SCOTUS pick – risk of a reverse
There is concern that a right-wing, religiously-oriented replacement for Ruth Ginsberg could upset Roe v Wade and Obamacare. Roe v Wade was signed 22 January 1973 at 10 am Washington, DC which gives a stalwart Aquarius Sun trine Pluto sextile Neptune in Sagittarius; with an optimistic Uranus square Jupiter Mercury; and a destructive Mars … Read more
Breonna Taylor – home was a dangerous place
Anger has erupted in Louisville, Kentucky which is under a state of emergency after a grand jury decision not to charge any police officers over the killing of Breonna Taylor. A black hospital worker, she was shot multiple times as three officers raided her home on 13 March without knocking and her boyfriend thinking they … Read more