Yulia Navalnaya, known as the “first lady” of the Russian opposition, widow of the almost certainly murdered Alexi Navalny, has vowed to take on his struggle. Although avoiding the spotlight for years she was always there. She said in a video address this week “I was by Alexei’s side all these years: elections, protests, house … Read more
Ice dance skating duo Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean have announced their swansong tour in 2025 which will be the fiftieth anniversary of their partnership. They got together as teenagers in 1975 and rose to become British, European, Olympic, and World champions. Their sizzling Bolero routine which won them a gold at the 1984 Winter … Read more
Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most prominent political opponent has died in a Siberian prison colony to which he was sent on what are described as trumped up charges. For many years he has been a lawyer and an anti-corruption activist, with six million YouTube subscribers in 2021. He has described Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, as … Read more
Robert Badinter has died, the former French justice minister, who went up against considerable public opposition to ban capital punishment in 1981, which was then still carried out by guillotine. Emmanuel Macron said he had been the “moral conscience” of the nation. He also scrapped a law that discriminated against same-sex relationships on the age … Read more
Bill Roache, the Coronation Street TV soap star still going strong at 91 after more than six decades in the role, has been declared bankrupt for the second time in his life owing a whopping £550k in back taxes. It follows an HMRC win over a Cayman Islands scheme aimed at minimizing taxes which was … Read more
Against growing international criticism but with the backing of most Israelis, Netanyahu is pushing ahead with an attack on Rafah, where half of Gaza’s population is trapped, promising never to stop until Hamas is completely destroyed. Now in its fifth month with a third of the Hamas personnel killed and circa 25,000 Palestinians, the violence … Read more
The Royal Society of Literature is the latest to fall prey to the modern phenomenon of ‘progressives’ versus the old guard. The new president, Booker-winner Bernardine Evaristo has insisted the society cannot take sides in controversies and must remain impartial when she was criticised for not supporting Salman Rushdie when he was nearly killed in … Read more
Albert Pierrepoint, the UK’s most notable executioner who hanged several hundred serial killers, Nazi criminals and murderers over a 25 year career started his vocation early on life following in his father’s footstep. “In my [youthful] imagination,” he wrote in his memoir, “Death was an adventure . . . and Execution was romance.” At the end of his working … Read more
The interview of the century between right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin turned out to be a very long damp squib as the Russian leader excavated Russian history back to the 8th Century to legitimize his invasion of Ukraine. Even Carlson wilted as his noble attempt as he saw it to better inform clueless … Read more
Birth control may have been practised by the ancient Greeks and throughout history with variable success but it was still a scandalous subject in Victorian England in the 19th Century. Annie Besant, a free-thinking early campaigner for women’s rights, and an early advocate for birth control, ended up on trial on charges of obscenity for … Read more