Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist President, is regarded as a historically important and influential 20th Century figure, inspiring other leaders in Africa, Latin America and Asia. He led his country’s independence movement in successful conflicts against the French and then the USA, though he died before unification with the south came after … Read more
India and Pakistan appear to have missed the worst of the first wave of coronavirus though the lockdown and general global recession will affect them. India is also facing a potentially devastating and destructive super-cyclone due to reach the east coast by tomorrow. And Pakistan PM Imran Khan, in a face-saving gesture to root … Read more
Pope John Paul 11, born 100 years ago today, is regarded as one of the ‘greats’ for helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually the rest of Europe, and significantly improving the Catholic Church’s relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. But a Polish documentary on child abuse by … Read more
Israel has sworn in a unity government under the revolving leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz which is likely to oversee the annexation of large parts of the West Bank. It’s also likely to defer indefinitely any potential sentence for corruption charges against Netanyahu. Trump/Kushner’s ‘vision for peace’ for Palestine, described as Monty Python-ish, … Read more
From here to eternity had nothing on the endless Brexit negotiations which have stuttered and stumbled, slithered and shambled well beyond the public’s tolerance levels or attention span. Does anyone care anymore? If the referendum were held tomorrow with the looming CV-19 economic hit would the vote flit to a no? Not that the EU … Read more
A panic court application for fashion designer and former child actress Mary-Kate Olsen to speed through her divorce from banker Oliver Sarkozy has failed. He has evidently ended the lease on their Manhattan apartment without informing her and she can’t get her possessions out before the closing day because of the lockdown. Sounds just … Read more
Cataclysmic descriptions about the economic damage caused by the virus lockdown are difficult to gauge since no one knows whether it’ll be a V-shaped dip with quick recovery or an L-shaped slog. The more dramatic couch it in terms of a historic first in direness. Though parallels are being drawn with the 1976 humiliation for … Read more
Psychopathic female assassins have become all the rage since the television drama Killing Eve shot the character of Villanelle to anti-hero greatness. She was evidently based on a notorious Spanish hit-woman, Isola Lopez Riano, who killed 23 people for the Basque separatist group ETA in the 1980s. She was dubbed La Tigresa (The Tigress) because … Read more
Roy Horn, half of the famed Siegfried & Roy exotic animal illusionist act which for decades was a top Las Vegas attraction has died from coronavirus complications. He levitated tigers, made elephants disappear, turned himself into a python in an extravaganza of sequined costumes, feathered headdresses and smoke-and-laser magic and made mega-millions for Mirage Casinos … Read more
Florence Nightingale, a well-bred English lady who almost single-handedly turned nursing into a profession, was born 200 years ago today. She rebelled against her wealthy background to focus her attention on nursing and when the Times wrote of the appalling conditions suffered by injured soldiers in the Crimea War, many dying unnecessarily of septicaemia … Read more