Brazil appears to be in a state of paralysis with weaker post-virus growth than elsewhere, high unemployment and high inflation. All of which will deal a blow to Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign for re-election later this year. Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has surged to its highest level since 2008, and has suffered losses … Read more
The BBC has become collateral damage in the government’s deflect-and-distract desperation to direct attention away from ‘partygate’ with a two-year licence freeze and a bombshell about removing funding altogether by the charter renewal in 2027. The latter is being rowed back since it would depend on every household having access to high-speed broadband for alternative … Read more
Credit Suisse proudly proclaims itself as the ‘World’s Best Bank Winner 2020’ as yet another top brass, chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio, is tossed overboard and that is only the latest in a long line of scandals. The recent history of the bank on wiki reads like a Gordon Gekko script, running back through Greensill, Malaysian IMDB, … Read more
A northern cold war is hotting up with Russia ratcheting up “hybrid” operations of cyberattacks and signal-jamming in Norway affecting military, government and commercial operations. The fear is that conflict in Ukraine could spill over to the north. Sweden has sent hundreds of extra troops to the Baltic island of Gotland after Russia deployed … Read more
Ronnie Spector, lead singer of the Ronettes in 1957, the girl band which shot to stardom under the producing talents of Phil Spector has died. Their string of hits in the early-to-mid–1960s, included “Be My Baby”, “Baby, I Love You”, “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain”. She was referred to … Read more
Tone deaf or doesn’t care? Washington watchers are mystified by Melania Trump’s brazen attempt to make money out of her husband’s presidency by auctioning off a white hat she wore for the 2018 state visit of the French President. It is part of her “Head of State” collection, with a letter of authenticity from Trump, … Read more
The waiting begins – unfit to lead, dead man walking, the party is over – as Boris finally appears to have crossed the line of no return. The penny may not have dropped with him but the general feeling is that even he cannot survive the cumulative damage of the mountain of bad behaviour that … Read more
Lizzo, the US rapper, singer, songwriter, and poster girl for fat-positivism has celebrated her recent weight gain on Instagram. She was born in Detroit on 27 April 1988 at 2.30pm (rectified) and is eight days younger than Adele so has the same Sun Jupiter in Taurus opposition Pluto square Mars. In Lizzo’s case the … Read more
Golda Meir, the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics who was one of the signatories of the 1948 declaration of independence and prime Minister over the Yom Kippur War is the subject of a bio pic, controversially starring Helen Mirren. The casting seemed an odd choice but the photos on the net indicate Mirren has managed … Read more
Was Tony Blair the key trailblazer of Britain’s future path, pulling the country irrevocably away from the past? It’s not a question I would linger on except for one intriguing astro-pointer. When he was first elected in 1997 and handed the prime ministerial remit by the Queen on 2 May around 11am, there was … Read more