Nine iconic women including Britney, Paris, Lindsay, Aaliyah, Janet, Amy, Kim, Chyna, hen, whose fame in the early internet years of the century came at a price. Journalist Sarah Ditum in Toxic: Women, Fame and The Noughties reveals how each of the women changed “celebrity” forever, despite often falling victim to it, during what we now view as one of the most hostile eras in which to be female. The pop-culture era, characterised by misogyny and abuse, Ditum who now in her 40s explains” the register of progress is only in how utterly remote the past has become, the era-specific … Continue reading High-profile women were hypersexualized and Upskirted by the media

Spears’s The Woman in Me, a ground breaking book illuminating the enduring power of music and lvoe and the importance of a women telling her own story, on her own terms at last, a brave moving story about freedom, hope, fame, motherhood, faith, and survival – and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history. In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others.  Britney Spears’s … Continue reading “Every calorie was recorded so people could continue to get rich off my body” rage of Princes of Pop

Mangrove Action Project’s competition now in its ninth year was won by Mr Bhattacharyya’s image called “The Finest Flower of the Mangroves” displaying a young Royal Bengal Tigress in its natural mangrove habitat, peering and posing at the photographer. The Mangrove Action Project aims to show the relationships between wildlife, coastal communities and mangrove forests, as well as the fragility of these unique ecosystems, both above and below the waterline. Daisy Gilardiini, one of the competition judge said “The solitary figure of the tiger, standing amidst the lush green mangrove forest vegetation, poignantly underscores the isolation it must endure in … Continue reading Mangrove Action Project competition won by Bhattacharyya

Rise and fall of London-born brothers over seven decades is the untold story of post-war Britain told through the lives of the two men who helped shape it: Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay who pioneered their use of debt other people’s money in raising funds from banks and finding ways to manage loan structures and tax losses to their advantage. When they faced political opposition to the highly leveraged £750m takeover of the Imperial Continental Gas Association in 1986, they also learnt a lesson that friends in Whitehall are useful.  Their close relations with senior Conservatives  and a … Continue reading Other People’s money

The Identity Trap provides truth and clarity where they are needed most. Yascha Mounk, a leading public intellectual traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity and social justice that is rapidly transforming America–and explains why it will fail to accomplish its noble goals. The West has become uncomfortable place for liberals as populist right entrenched themselves as champion of the majority against the self-interest liberal elite. For much of history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social justice came to believe that members of marginalized … Continue reading Culture Wars

George Harrison hailed from a working-class family in Liverpool. When he was 14, an amiable Paul McCartney invited him to join a loosely congregated skiffle group called the Quarrymen, to which the groups’ acid -tongue 17-year-old leader John Lennon responded  “Who’s that bloody kid who’s always hanging around”. Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, George Harrison, particularly in his early decades, battled feelings of inferiority. He was often the butt of jokes from his bandmates owing to his lower-class background and, typically, was allowed to contribute only one or two songs per Beatles album … Continue reading George Harrison struggled with fame

Philippa Gregory spent ten years researching 900 years of women making history with names of ordinary women featured in this book, Mathilda Penne, Skinner, Joanna de Boneye, Widow, Joan Hampcock and Isabella Brembole, agitators. Elena Couper, pin-maker, Katherine Cantilupe who claimed her husband had no genitals. Prone Joan, Prostitute. Edith Swanders, thief , Kate Slater, factory worker. Mary Davis gravedigger, Johanna Mason, nun accused of sleeping with another nun Anne Bonny, cross-dressing pirate. Elizabeth Wilkinson, Prizefighter. Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find ighway women, beggars … Continue reading Working women making past 900 years of history

Ian Fleming’s greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture.  Ian Fleming, a fantasist who peddled empire nostalgia to the sensation-hungry masses of the cold war era. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote. Award-winning biographer with unprecedent access Ian Fleming family papers reveals the deepening and reshaping previous versions of Fleming’s life, Shakespeare quotes a former head of MI6 who … Continue reading Secret lives of spy masters

Sam Bankman-Fried went on trial this week on charges of fraud and money laundering, in connection with his $32bn cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Digital asset mania has vaporised billions of investor dollars over the past five years. From the #1 bestselling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’s Going Infinite, is a structured biography-cum-fly-on-the-wall tale, tracing 31-year-old Bankman-Fried’s journey from friendless nerd to unflappable Wall Street Trader, business tycoon  and finally accused felon and clearly explains the market failures and other complex ideas. The high-octane story of the enigmatic figure at the heart of one of the 21st century’s most spectacular … Continue reading Crazy Billion $ fall of FTX

Secrecy came naturally for John le Carré, and  there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. The content of his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades. To keep these relationships secret, he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories, cut  outs, safe houses and dead letter boxes. Such affairs introduced both jeopardy and excitement into what was otherwise a quite, ordered life. Ot was the stimulus these affairs provided in order to write though this meant deceiving those closest to him, so betrayal became a … Continue reading “My infidelities became almost a necessary drug for my writing”