There is an inspiring tale of Mary Anning born into poverty in 1799, under-educated in the way of the time and ignored because of the prejudice against women, who left her mark as a fossil collector and palaeontologist. Earlier this year the Royal Mail issued a set of four stamps celebrating her discoveries and in … Read more
Shannen Doherty, a child star who became tabloid fodder with her wild-child behaviour, peaked in the 1990s teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210 but struggled in a rag-bag career later. She contracted breast cancer in 2015 which she handled with her customary bravado, working to publicise cancer awareness, but it spread to her brain and bones … Read more
‘A plague on all their houses’ appears to be the apolitical approach of young Kenyans, eloquent and educated, who are staging demonstrations against corruption, injustice and inequality in a self-serving political class whom they are denouncing across the board. The GenZ movement as they are known who claim no political or tribal allegiance and organize … Read more
Lamine Yamal, the 17 year old (just) Spanish footballer has been lauded as the standout star of this year’s European Championship in Germany with talk of him becoming one of the greats like Messi, Ronaldo, Pele, Maradona. He was born 13 July 2007 near Barcelona into a Moroccan immigrant family and brought up in … Read more
The Kennedy women who either suffered at the hands of the male members of the clan they married into – or to whom they sold their souls in return for money and prestige – have smatterings of similarities amongst them. Rose, the matriarch, 22 July 1890 11 am Boston, Massachusetts, wife of Joseph, mother … Read more
George Clooney, a major Democrat donor, has raised the heat in the Biden go-or-stay debate, saying flatly Biden is not the man he was in 2020 and won’t win if he stands. Despite a robust push-back from the White House and Biden family, pressure is growing. Even Nancy Pelosi is carefully saying the time is … Read more
“When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.” Michael Ende. The gulf between the public image and private reality has rarely been wider than between … Read more
Alice Munro the Canadian short story writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Man Booker as well as countless other plaudits has had her reputation tarnished. She died this May and one of her daughters has come forward to say she was sexually assaulted by her stepfather Gerald Fremlin starting when she … Read more
Actor Alec Baldwin is finally facing trial charged with involuntary manslaughter for the October 2021 shooting of the cinematographer on the set of a movie in which he starred and produced. The gun was not supposed to be loaded with live bullets and the young armourer has already been convicted. If found guilty Baldwin could … Read more
Emmanuel Macrons’ cunning and surreal plan to springboard the French far-right into a modicum of power in a snap election just to prove they were inept has spectacularly backfired. The electorate took fright after the first round when Marie Le Pen’s RN party surged to prominence – as they did in 2002 when her father … Read more