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
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
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
A stinker of a week for Boris Johnson saw him accused by the normally supportive right-wing Spectator magazine as presiding over “disorder, debacle, rebellion, U-turn and confusion”. “He’s no longer fit to be prime minister.” Matthew Parris added for good measure: “his zing has well and truly zung. The fun has gone and with it … Read more
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a liberal voice on the Supreme Court, has died which has thrown a fireball into the run up to the US Presidential election. The process of selecting her replacement is likely to raise rancour considerably with the Republicans aiming to railroad the Senate vote through quickly in contrast to 2016 when they … Read more
The Israel Bahrain and UAE deal has been hailed as a “new dawn of peace” in the Middle East which, according to Trump, will change the course of history. The portentously named Abraham Accords has met a mixed reception though with less raucous laughter than Jared Kushner’s first effort. Trump, Netanyahu, Kushner and Tony Blair … Read more
There’s a savage irony about Ireland becoming the stumbling block to the ‘never-ever-shall-be-slaves’ Brexit lobby, given the 800-year history of first England, then the UK meddling, at times brutally, in Irish affairs. Joe Biden has now added a clarion call to the other dissenting voices indicating that the Good Friday Agreement can’t become a casualty … Read more
Dark tales of corruption and worse in Bollywood, the Indian film industry, are stalking the media. Which hardly makes it different from Hollywood where since the earliest days crime, cover-up and financial ‘manipulation’ have been the watchword. Even today drug-taking is almost de rigueur. Though Bollywood does appear to have stronger links to organised crime, … Read more
Charles Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother, has been talking about his upbringing and his third marriage. He says his unhappy, traumatic childhood with his mother leaving when he was two and being sent to boarding school at 8, sent him into two failed marriages until he went into therapy to sort himself out. He has four … Read more
Singer, songwriter Lily Allen has married actor David Harbour, best known for Stranger Things in Las Vegas, in a wedding officiated by an Elvis impersonator. Both have had complicated lives with Lily Allen on her second marriage with two children from a previous one, blighted for several years by an unstable stalker, with pregnancy mishaps … Read more