Greta Garbo was a silver-screen goddess of the 1920s and 30s, who became a byword for seclusion after she retired from films and shut herself off from the world. Even at the height of her fame she shunned publicity, rarely gave interviews and avoided social functions. Letters are now on show which reveal … Read more
Yemen’s bloody war collected another scalp with the assassination of the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who had deserted his erstwhile allies the rebel Iran-supported Shia Houthis to try to broker a deal with Saudi Arabia. He won’t be personally much mourned, since he was disliked by many of his countrymen during … Read more
A bunch of right-wing, anti-abortion, anti-same-sex-marriage/LGBT rights, creationist Ulster Protestants (aka Ian Paisley) have scuppered Theresa May’s chances of moving onto the next crucial Brexit stage of trade talks. After the disastrous election last June May was forced to lash herself unthinkably to the Northern Ireland DUP for their 10 MPs to survive … Read more
Shashi Kapoor, the Indian actor and producer, a member of the Kapoor Bollywood film dynasty and widower of Jennifer Kendal, sister of Felicity, has died. He starred in a great many Indian films, appearing on stage and screen from the age of 10 onwards, and was best known in the west for appearing in … Read more
Happy news day – a spring Royal wedding up and coming to distract from the drear. The UK chart does look enlivened from late March to late May so the country will be in a jubilant mood. Prince Harry does have tr Jupiter criss-crossing his midheaven in early 2018 so he’ll be … Read more
Tone-deaf, insensitive and suffering from foot-in-mouth disease are the hallmarks of Lena Dunham, actor-writer-director who created and starred in Girls. Proud of her feminist credentials, her most recent blotting of her copybook came from suggesting that an allegation of sexual harassment against a male friend of hers was probably not to be believed. … Read more
Al Franken, the Democratic Junior Senator from Minnesota, has issued another apology after two more women made allegations of inappropriate touching. He said “I’m a warm person; I hug people. I’ve learned from recent stories that in some of those encounters, I crossed a line for some women — and I … Read more
The omnipresent Gwyneth Paltrow, actress, singer, health blogger and red carpet regular, appears to be heading for yet another attempt at romantic commitment. She had two early three years liaisons with Brad Pitt and then Ben Affleck, before marrying Chris Martin and producing two children in their fifteen years together. Since their split … Read more
Zimbabwe is in joyous mood after Robert Mugabe’s resignation. Though why the return of the former vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa whose ousting led to the coup, to take over the presidency should be taken as an encouraging sign isn’t remotely clear. Nicknamed the Crocodile, he has been a Mugabe’s ally for many years, so … Read more
Justice League, the super-super hero movie is making feeble headway at the box office. With an assembled team of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg, it is one of the most expensive movies every made and will have to retrieve $600 million to break even. Starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill it has been trashed … Read more