Parents in an uproar…

Liane Moriarty draws upon real life headlines of her story in Big Little Truths by examining the complexities of modern women’s lives, shining light on shame and family secrets with wit and compassion.  The story starts ten years ago, at the Pirriwee Primary school gates, the friendships of Celeste, Jane and Madeline were forged in the fires of young motherhood, the big little lies will tell us to hide our deepest fears and secrets – and the event that changed everything. Now mothers to hormonal teens, these frazzled friends are starting to worry about the strangers occupying their kids’ bedrooms. Or … Continue reading Parents in an uproar…

Web made by people not by algorithms or dream codes

Parallel’s deep search and extract for real-time retrieval, entity discovery, stand out among rivals like Exa, Tavily and Perplexity. Indian-origin Parag Agrawal, who was removed by Elon Musk as Twitter CEO has built  Parallel, an AI company, powering millions of research tasks everyday, with $2 billion valuation, in just three years. Agrawal’s journey only proves that a setback can sometimes turn into the beginning of something much bigger. When one door closes what you really need is to find a bigger one. Parallel has rigorous independent benchmarking for search optimization that measures end-to-end quality, cost, latency for agents. Parallel makes the … Continue reading Web made by people not by algorithms or dream codes

Uber to bring driverless taxis to London

Only 15 autonomous vehicles are licensed. Londoners are now able to hire self-driving taxis for the first time.   Google-owned Waymo, the US driverless car firm, is hoping to be operating robotaxi and Chinese firm Baidu are testing their robo taxis in the UK capital. Wayve robotaxis added to Uber app, although initially there will be a human in front ready to take over if any glitches occur. Transport for London last month licensed Uber and the UK tech company Wayve’s modified Ford Mustang cars as private hire vehicles, whose conditions still require a safety driver supervisor. Continue reading Uber to bring driverless taxis to London

New era of statecraft, its successes, its failures.

Russia foreign policy analyst Hanna Notte in “We Shall Outlast Them”, tells a story that has long been obscured: that the Kremlin is waging a war not only on Ukraine, but over global order. Blending critical analysis with reportage from over a dozen countries, Notte takes readers on a panoramic journey through this new era of statecraft, with its successes and its failures. From the comedy of Russia’s antics at the UN to the melodrama of the outrageous nuclear threats, Notte renders an astonishing portrait of a newly outwardly-facing Russia. With sensitivity and depth, she shows why the country enjoys … Continue reading New era of statecraft, its successes, its failures.

Notting Hill Carnival: 60th year…

Pictures Penny Price Europe’s biggest street party, Notting Hill Carnival celebrated its 60th anniversary pumped up by drummers, dancers and multi-colourful costumes. The Notting Hill Carnival which celebrates Caribbean culture and history was first held in west London in 1966. Soca band musician Evan said “It’s a culture, it’s a lifestyle. How we walk, how we talk, how we smile, how we eat- it’s a combination of a lot of things.”Soul-Rebel Marley, the grandson of Bob Marley said he did not feel the pressure from his family musical history, and instead described it as “a guiding light”. This is the 60th year … Continue reading Notting Hill Carnival: 60th year…

Personal rediscovery, pursuing passion to recapture a lost love on an impulse

How do we lose touch with things we love? And is it possible to find out way back to them? These questions drive professional writer and managing editor of news organisation Coda Story, Nadia Beard on a quest to reclaim the dreams of her childhood for her adult self. Swimming and cycling once you learn you never forget is the same true with piano? Beard frames her musical homecoming as a journey of personal rediscovery after turning away from music following university. Until them, “playing the piano and cello was the core of my life” Nadia remembers. Growing up in … Continue reading Personal rediscovery, pursuing passion to recapture a lost love on an impulse

Can leaders steer the course of history

American scientist, historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, Jared Diamond poses the big question whether leaders or luck play a greater part in steering the course of history. In Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings, Diamond announces at the start that he will pursue a middle path- more realistic than taking one side, but a warning that what follows will fall short of a resounding theory. Researching the life of one striking individual creates a temptation to attribute more influence to them than is justified. Inspired by the rigour of laboratory scientists using controls, he cites as a natural experiment- thrown up by … Continue reading Can leaders steer the course of history

Cohn’s feistiness, surly defiance and charm of a rogue lawyer

Roy Cohen is a super-lawyer and political fixed, whose shocking exploits over four decades have shaped the modern political era, most prominently the ascent of Donald Trump. In October 1973, Donald Trump was an ambitious 27-year-old from Queens trying to push his way into the world of Manhattan real estate. He met Roy Cohn, the notorious New York lawyer whose clients included mobsters and celebrities, one evening at the members-only Le Club Restaurant. Trump and his developer father had just been sued by the US government for discriminating against Black people seeking apartments in their properties. Trump asked Cohn “What … Continue reading Cohn’s feistiness, surly defiance and charm of a rogue lawyer

New Dawn: Imperial wreckage, war’s chaos, and suffering supercharged anti-colonial movements

Sinologist at the University of Cambridge, Hans van de Ven, in Blood Dawn, complains while Western histories of the second World War, focuses on the events in Europe, the US and the Russia, Asia remains “insufficiently examined, inadequately narrated, and rarely remembered in public discourse”.  In Blood Dawn, he offers a vital corrective restoring the Asian war to its proper place, and tracing the destruction of empires and the emergence of the nation-state in Asia. van de Ven tells the Asian story deftly, including the depression which helped finish off the parliamentary experiment of Taisho democracy in Japan, empowering soldiers for … Continue reading New Dawn: Imperial wreckage, war’s chaos, and suffering supercharged anti-colonial movements

101 Princesses

Imagine what New York-based, British writer Jon Ronson did when he received a series of disquieting texts after his 24-year-old son Joel and his friends had been lured to a mysterious castle in the  rural Connecticut (forests of New England) under false pretences late one evening. Ronson Sr. off on an extraordinary adventure into a world of unmoored men on a desperate search for purpose, whatever the cost. Why did the wealthy scion of a gilded age tycoon Jon’s son to his castle on the pretext of a party, when the reality was something else entirely? Could Jon uncover what was … Continue reading 101 Princesses