Pope Francis creeping towards 90 has been raising alarm with his adulation for ‘great Mother Russia’ and its imperial past which Ukrainians pointed out was at the heart of the Kremlin’s invasion of their country. On a visit to Mongolia he has now added Genghis Kahn to his much-to-be-admired list of empire builders because of … Read more
Andy Murray, former tennis world No 1 and three times Grand Slam winner, may be facing the winding down of his international career. His defeat in the US Open recently prompted him to say he would step away if his play “gets worse”. He has struggled over recent years with hip problems. Born 15 … Read more
Mohammed Al Fayed has died who almost became father-in-law to Princess Diana. Starting from lowly beginnings in Alexandria, Egypt he rose through unscrupulous tactics and persistence to amass a fortune, own Harrods and take on the trapping of a ‘classic English aristocrat’. He lived in fashionable houses, had helicopters, private planes, a Rolls-Royce. He sponsored … Read more
The American never-ending obsession with elections rolls on and there’s only fifteen months to go before the next one. Sigh. Once that is out of the way the neurosis about the 2026 midterms will spring up. It is a weird and exasperating national trait which someone will someday explain to me – and costs a … Read more
The Moon’s Nodes carry a theme that is echoed throughout a birth chart as if they encapsulated the fundamentals of the personality – its learning lessons and possibilities. The theory is well enough known of the South Node representing the pull from the past into what is comfortable and familiar – the line of least … Read more
Royal watchers are perplexed by Prince Andrew’s rehabilitation into the family as he attended a church service along with the Royal tribe. It is odd for two reasons – one it misjudges public antipathy which is implacably opposed to his resurfacing and therefore risks damaging the monarchy and Charles’ popularity. The other is that William … Read more
Snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory, Luis Robiales, the Spanish football chief, has managed to drown out the celebrations of the victory at the Women’s World Cup final by acting the bully in forcibly kissing winning player Jennifer Hermoso and then doubling down on refusals to apologise. FIFA has suspended him though the … Read more
Helen Mirren is the unlikely choice to play Golda Meir, Israel’s ‘Grandmother’, who was prime minister during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Reviews have been “mixed or average” in what is described as a passable history lesson in biopic form. Mirren had to undergo a dramatic physical transformation including a fake nose, other facial … Read more
Another day, another UK management failure to add to a growing list. The British Museum has now fessed up that there were thefts and sales from items in the collection having initially ignored a whistleblower. It has been a pile-up recently. The Criminal Crime Review Commission left Andrew Malkinson to linger in prison despite knowledge … Read more
Dictators come in all walks of life and old style orchestral conductors were always renowned for their ferocity when it came to exerting their will and their wishes. A spat this week between Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a highly respected maestro, who reportedly threw a punch at a young singer as they left the … Read more