Blending facts and fiction

“Hamnet” – What we all need in the New Year? Challenging dramawhich gradually unfolds to a telling finale.Starring Paul Mescal (Latin Tutor – Shakespeare), Jessie Buckley(“Agnes”) Emily Watson, Noah Jupe, Jacobi Jupe, Bodhi RaeBreatnach, Olivia Lynes and David Wilmot amongst the talentedcast.Director Chloe Zhao – 2 hours 5 mins running time – Golden GlobeAward for best motion picture. When the film premiered this year inTelluride it was met with rave reviews, later making Zhao the first towin TIFF People’s Choice Award twice. Steven Spielberg and SamMendes are among the Producers.This film is based on the novel “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell. … Continue reading Blending facts and fiction

A New Cold War where everyday it grows hotter

Artic cold war amid melting ice paving way for military led land-grabs for resources. Kenneth R Rosen, in Polar War reveals how climate change, military ambition, and economic opportunity are transforming the Arctic into the epicentre of a new cold war, where a struggle for dominance between the planet’s great powers heralds the next global conflict. “It has been previous administration’s policy that Greenland should be part of the United States” according to Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff on January 5. Since then the White House released a statement saying that  “the president and his team are … Continue reading A New Cold War where everyday it grows hotter

Global push to power EVs, Smartphones and energy transition amid human and environmental costs

Niarchos in The Elements of Power produces a tale of rapacious colonialism, cold war spy games and extractive capitalism”. Congo the war-torn African country lack basic infrastructure and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But Congo is rich and hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten and other treasures essential for the global energy transition- the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the … Continue reading Global push to power EVs, Smartphones and energy transition amid human and environmental costs

Unlucky in love

Olive is always unlucky in love, career, well almost everything, but her twin sister Ami, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is a fairy tale, and she has managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of internet contests. Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who happens to be the best man. Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from … Continue reading Unlucky in love

Never Give up: Dream big

The former UK chancellor tells the story of his upbringing as the son of Punjabi immigrants, navigating poverty, racism and the tensions of straddling two cultures in 1970s Britain. Javid reflects how these early challenges forged his resilience and shaped his path from adversity to a position at the heart of British public life. “Run, Paki, Run”, the words ricocheted off the walls of the Rochdale underpass that connected Sajid Javid’s home and primary school. As a five-year-old boy, he had learned that 70s Britain could be a cruel and violent place for those seen as outsiders. Leaving behind the … Continue reading Never Give up: Dream big

Wealth Greed and Happiness

Award-winning author Morgan Housel’s, The Psychology of Money, has 19 short stories which explores the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics. Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know, but it’s about how you behave, which is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money – Investing, personal finance and business decisions is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real-world people do not make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. … Continue reading Wealth Greed and Happiness

Love and savage grace- a mother like no other

Booker-winning radical icon Arundhati Roy’s incredible first memoir is a soaring account, both intimate and inspiring, of how author became the person and the writer she is, shaped by circumstance, but above all by her relationship to her extraordinary, singular mother Mary, who she describes as “my shelter and my storm”. Distraught and even a “little ashamed” at the intensity of her response to the death of the mother she ran from at age eighteen. Arundhati began to write Mother Mary Comes to Me. The result is this astonishing, disconcerting, funny chronicle  which is unique and simultaneously universal, of the author’s … Continue reading Love and savage grace- a mother like no other

Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

The Elements of Power is a tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics. Nicholas Niarchos’s epic shocking story of the war for the global supply of battery metals- essential for the decarbonization of our economies- and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry. Swaths of war-torn Congo, the African country is rich but lack basic infrastructure, and after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, … Continue reading Supply of battery metals amid big business rivalry and geopolitics

The drug that made people feel fuller for longer

With the advent of the New Year, everybody is desperately searching for a new person, with sudden stabs of self-improvement of the sort that are popular at this time of the year after overindulging ourselves during the festive season perhaps a stint in the cross-trainer which might help. The fact remains no one goes out to dinner for health, and restaurant reviews are not the place for fitness tips.  Events leading to the creation of Ozempic and its revolutionary impact on public health. Pharmaceutical industry has long been seeking a cure for obesity even though one that seemed unattainable until … Continue reading The drug that made people feel fuller for longer