Pharmaceutical revolution

Off the Scales is the inside story of the creation of Ozempic and its revolutionary impact on public health. The Pharmaceutical industry have long been searching for a cure for obesity, one that seemed unattainable until recent breakthrough in type 2 diabetes research which led to the development of Ozempic, a weight loss medication that activates a hormone in the4 stomach called GLP-1, making people feel fuller for longer.These wonder drugs bearing names such as Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro, all tackles obesity and also cut the risk of downstream diseases such as heart disease and stroke. One in eight Americans … Continue reading  Pharmaceutical revolution

Bitter challenger for the farmer, moneylender and the pimp

Although the story of ancient Rome is predominantly one of great men with great fortunes, Kim Bowes, professor of Ancient History and archaeology at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania, in Surviving Rome, unearths history of ordinary Romans, who worked with their hands and survived through a combination of grit and grinding labour. Bowes focuses on the tenant farmer Epimachus, Faustilla the moneylender, and the pimp Philokies. She reveals how the economic changes of the period created a set of bitter challenges and opportunistic hustles for everyone from farmers and craftspeople to day laborers and slaves. She finds working people producing a … Continue reading Bitter challenger for the farmer, moneylender and the pimp

The Globe Theatre at 21 Globe Walk

Diving into theatrical history in the 21 st century Shakespearesglobe.com currently playing Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Mid Summer Nights Dream, soon to be performed Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare). It is a very popular venue, and don’t miss the details about the Sam Wanamaker theatre next doorand open all year round!The Globe Theatre at 21 Globe Walk, Bankside, Southwark, South London SE1 was in modern times the brain child of Sam Wanamaker who came to the UK in 1949, and who died in 1993. Buildingstarted in 1970 and finished in 1997 – they relied heavily on donations to complete the … Continue reading The Globe Theatre at 21 Globe Walk

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