Calling the fraud convictions of innocent post office subpostmasters a miscarriage of justice hardly covers the years of criminal malfeasance on the part of the overpaid bosses who seemingly knew the fault lay in the accounting computer system installed in 1999. The latest ruling has set aside 39 convictions as unsafe, which had led to … Read more
For a man who infamously uttered the scornful dismissal of business concerns about Brexit – ‘f*** business’ when Foreign Secretary – Boris Johnson has done a sharp U-turn since entering No 10 to cosy up to Tory donors and others in a government that is sinking in accusations about sleaze and favouritism. The latest kerfuffle … Read more
Robert De Niro, one of the all-time Hollywood greats with a string of awards for his nine Martin Scorsese movies including The Godfather, Taxi Driver, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, The Unotuchables as well as Wag the Dog, Silver Linings Playbook etc has gone noticeably off track over the past two decades with … Read more
India is facing a catastrophic second wave of Covid infections and deaths, described as not a wave but a wall. Entire families are being wiped out, crematoriums are melting down from constant use, hospitals are full with oxygen, medicines and vaccines in short supply and the already creaky health system is near collapse. Earlier … Read more
Doug Ford, the Ontario premier, is coping with the pandemic as well as might be expected which is not at all. The situation there is chaotic, with infection rates rising and incomprehensible edicts being tossed around. As the Washington Post remarks he is deflecting blame and losing the plot. ‘Ford was never fit to be … Read more
Helen McCrory, the extraordinarily talented actress has died tragically young at 52 of cancer. Although best known as Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, she was a mesmerising presence on stage as Medea and Lady Macbeth. She was married to Damian Lewis, of Band Of Brothers, Homeland and Billions renown, with two children and they managed … Read more
Joe Biden has taken the damned-if-he-does and damned-if-he-doesn’t decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan after two decades. Critics predict civil war may erupt, lead to the collapse of the Kabul government and the struggling army; and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups could re-establish havens within two years, using them as launch pads to … Read more
Shirley Williams, one of the most influential and popular political figures in the UK in the 20th Century – “Shirl the Pearl” – has died aged 90. Originally a Labour MP and one of the first women cabinet ministers, she was in the “Gang of Four” who split away from Labour in 1981 to found … Read more
The torture, murder, suicide melodrama of Puccini’s Tosca, Maria Callas’ signature role, had nothing on the searing unhappiness and maltreatment of her own life. Regaled as the greatest operatic soprano of the 20th Century, she was pimped out by her mother who later blackmailed her into handing over money, was ripped off financially by her … Read more
DMX, the American rapper, has died young at 50 of a heart attack brought on by years of drug abuse to a litany of anguished praise by music critics. One described him as a “colossus, a fire-starter and a healer.” Another said “he was a force of nature, an all-or-nothing character who could be profound … Read more