The English sucked up to the Mughal emperors, sending ambassador after ambassador. The first Englishman in India was not a coloniser or civiliser, but a Catholic refugee. A Wiltshire native and Wykehamist, Thomas Stephens decided to join the Jesuits in Goa having fallen in with a disreputable crowd at Oxford. He threw himself into the urgent task of harvesting souls for Christ. Stephens’s friend Father Pietro Berno personally set fire to a temple in Cuncolim and publicly slaughtered  a cow, an animal sacred to Hindus. The locals proceeded to kill him and mutilate his body. Stephens authored a catechism in … Continue reading First Brits in India

Award-winning reporter and Bloomberg editor in charge of Big Tech coverage,Sarah Frier’s No Filter is about  two smart tech guys creates a novel app by marrying art and technology to overcome skeptics and to hook the public on visual storytelling, in 2010 and then sold it to Facebook.  She take us inside Facebook including profiling its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who Instagram founder Kevin Systrom called the most strategic thinker he has ever met. “If Facebook is about friendships, and Twitter was about opinion then Instagram was about experiences – anyone could be interested in anyone’s visual experiences anywhere in the … Continue reading Platform for Industry of digital influencers

Sweets group take over salty snack maker. Mars, the confectionary, food and pet-care giant has reached an agreement to acquire Pringles and Pop-tarts maker Kellanova for £28bn ($35.9bn). The US conglomerate famous for M&M’s, Snickers and Skittles agreed to pay $83.50 per share for Kellanova in all-cash transaction and will also take on more than $6bn in net debt. The offer is a premium of more than 69 per cent over where Kellanova’s shares were trading a few months ago. The Mars- Kellanova deal comes amid slowing down on customer spending following years of inflation. Poul Weihrauch, Mars CEO said … Continue reading Pringled by Mars

ECHOES OF THE UNDERGROUND – LEE HARRIS ARCHIVE EXHIBITION 8 TO 18 AUGUST 2024 AT THE MUSE GALLERY 269 PORTOBELLO ROAD LONDON W11 1LB. AN EXHIBITION WHICH REVOLVES AROUND THE SWINGING SIXTIES WITH SOME ENCHANTING ARTWORK OF THOSE TIMES.Lee Harris was an active player in the sixties in popular London venues – in fact his shop Alchemy was on the exact site of the gallery that is now The Muse. His book – “Echoes of the Underground: A Footsoldier’s Tale” details the social changes of the 60s, 70s and afterwards – with stories, exchanges and his own diarised account. To … Continue reading Echoes of the Underground – Lee Harris

Jenni Fagan’s account of growing up in Scotland’s broken care system. Jenni Fagan was property of the state before birth right when she drew her first breath in care and by the age of seven, she had lived in fourteen different homes, and had her name change multiple times. Twenty years after her first attempt to write this powerful memoir, Jenni is finally ready to share her account. Ootlin is a journey through the broken UK care system – it is one of displacement and exclusion, but also of the power of storytelling. It is about the very human act … Continue reading Scotland’s broken care system

The Netherlands secure historic Olympic hockey double. The men’s team won gold beating Germany  the women’s teams by beating China 3-1 on penalties in the final. In the Bronze Men’s India beat Spain 2-1 to win Bronze and Women’s hockey Argentina defeated Belgium 3-1 on penalties. An ugly brawl broke out in the Men’s hockey final at the Olympic games. The Dutch beat their German rivals  3-1  shootout following a 1-1 draw with Duco Telgenkamp firing the final penalty shot past goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg. Telgenkamp then got in Danneberg’s face afterwards with a shushing gesture, triggering feisty scenes as Niklas … Continue reading Netherlands wins historic Olympic hockey double.