Seeing the Displaced

  The scenes on our screens this week looked like a promo for the latest Hollywood apocalypse story.  A picture of shapeless Humans, harried and hungry, their few possessions in arms or on heads leaving a smoky wasteland flecked with fires and rubble and human detritus. The debris of destroyed"homes" washed up here and there, strewn rubbish and piles of rotting remains, broken things, … Continue reading Seeing the Displaced

Born bad or grew bad? Our Teen Killers

Mary Bell in 1968 (who as an 11 year old strangled two little boys "solely for the pleasure and excitement of killing") and Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in 1990 (who aged 10, lured two-year-old James Bulger to his death on a railway track) shocked us deeply but they were thought an anomaly.  So rare, not even a thing. But … Continue reading Born bad or grew bad? Our Teen Killers

Seduction is a skill, not a guffaw or a grope…

Donald Trump's bulldozing march to the White House took a detour this week to "deal" with the many women, all of a sudden coming forward with accusations of sexual misconduct or harassment. All campaign-long he's leisurely batted away the slurs, as "just locker- room banter". But there's been a tone change recently and on Thursday,  he practically ranted, "These … Continue reading Seduction is a skill, not a guffaw or a grope…

Dance then, wherever you may be

A “pantsuit power” 200-person flashmob appeared in Union Square, New York last Sunday to perform a carefully choreographed, five-minute tribute to Hillary Clinton  (to Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling). Film-makers and real-life partners Celia Rowlson-Hall and Mia Lidofsky pulled together volunteers from all over North America, organized a 10-camera shoot on a micro-budget and sourced hundreds of suits from thrift stores all over … Continue reading Dance then, wherever you may be

Welcome to the pleasure park – the happiest place on earth

The grainy photo footage of the Alton Towers Smiler accident, released this week, put pictures of the smash in our minds forever as truly terrifying (and confirmed our instinctual fear of rollarcoaster rides. It's ok, you know, to question the sanity of taking a ride  with 14 inversions).  "Human error" was blamed for the serious injuries of  five riders;  two … Continue reading Welcome to the pleasure park – the happiest place on earth