Look sharp! Shoulder pads and spikes are back as Paris calls time on comfort dressing
Posted on April 24, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1091 words
| Brenda Moya
Designs from Victoria Beckham, Schiaparelli and Balmain at Paris fashion week. Composite: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images/Shutterstock/ Marechal Aurore/ ABACA/ShutterstockDesigns from Victoria Beckham, Schiaparelli and Balmain at Paris fashion week. Composite: Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images/Shutterstock/ Marechal Aurore/ ABACA/ShutterstockFashionJohn Lewis has abandoned the floral midi; now fashion week designers have ditched puff sleeves and easy-care layers. It won’t make everyone happy …
John Lewis is a byword for plain-speaking British common sense as much as it is an actual shop; everyone knows that.
[Read More]Ncuti Gatwa: I know many a gay man whos exactly like the Doctor
Posted on April 24, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 1060 words
| Delta Gatti
‘The Doctor doesn’t have a family, but Ruby is his now, in a way’ … Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa in the Doctor Who Christmas special. Photograph: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios 2023‘The Doctor doesn’t have a family, but Ruby is his now, in a way’ … Millie Gibson and Ncuti Gatwa in the Doctor Who Christmas special. Photograph: James Pardon/Bad Wolf/BBC Studios 2023Doctor WhoTime is ticking down to the Fifteenth Doctor and his new companion Millie Gibson’s festive special.
[Read More]21st century Foxx
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 9 minutes
| 1915 words
| Delta Gatti
The ObserverMoviesJamie Foxx has always been a contender. But this year sees him stepping up to the premier league. He stole the show from Tom Cruise in Collateral, and now with his extraordinary portrayal of Ray Charles he's favourite to lift the Best Actor Oscar. Here, he talks to Gavin Edwards about probation, prosthetics and playing piano with the masterJamie Foxx knows he's made a lot of bad movies: Breakin' All the Rules?
[Read More]Actor Michael Socha: Did I fall in with the wrong people? No, I was the wrong people | Drama
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 10 minutes
| 1980 words
| Christie Applegate
The ObserverDramaInterviewActor Michael Socha: ‘Did I fall in with the wrong people? No, I was the wrong people’ Miranda SawyerFirst cast by Shane Meadows, in This is England, Socha is about to star in the director’s period drama The Gallows Pole. He describes how acting saved him from a life of violence – and why he loves a madcap scheme
In a photographer’s studio in Derby, Michael Socha is wondering what he should wear.
[Read More]Amnesty International posters - in pictures | World news
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 595 words
| Christie Applegate
Amnesty International posters - in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Amnesty has produced powerful posters over the past 50 years. Here are some of the best Sat 2 Apr 2011 19.05 EDT First published on Sat 2 Apr 2011 19.05 EDT La Colombe et le Prisonnier, 1959A poster with an image donated to Amnesty by Pablo Picasso Photograph: Succession Picasso/DACS
[Read More]Johnnie Wilder Jnr | US news
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 649 words
| Merlyn Hunt
US newsObituaryJohnnie Wilder JnrLead singer with US soul band Heatwave, whose big hit was Boogie NightsThe death of Johnnie Wilder Jnr, aged 56, is the latest episode in the ill-starred but professionally triumphant career of US soul band Heatwave, best-remembered for their chart debut Boogie Nights in 1977. They had further hits with Too Hot to Handle, Always and Ever - revived in 1995 by Luther Vandross - and in 1978 The Groove Line, their final US top 40 entry, though they had sporadic hits overseas into the 1990s.
[Read More]Karim Benzema sues French minister over Muslim Brotherhood claims | France
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 442 words
| Merlyn Hunt
FranceKarim Benzema sues French minister over Muslim Brotherhood claimsGérald Darmanin accused footballer of ‘notorious’ links to Islamist group without offering evidence
The French footballer Karim Benzema has filed a defamation suit against the country’s interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, after the minister said he had “notorious” links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The legal challenge, seen by AFP, accused the minister of using the player to score political points, noting that Benzema “has never had the slightest link with the Muslim Brotherhood organisation, nor to [his] knowledge with anyone who claims to be a member of it”.
[Read More]The Danish Way of Parenting review how to raise the worlds happiest kids
Posted on April 23, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 976 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Schools in Denmark prioritise teamwork and empathy rather than individual achievement. Photograph: AlamySchools in Denmark prioritise teamwork and empathy rather than individual achievement. Photograph: AlamyBook of the daySociety booksReviewDenmark approaches childhood, and society as a whole, very differently to Britain or the US, argue Jessica Joelle Alexander and Iben Dissing SandahlHaving muddled through six years of parenthood without consulting any books on the subject, I was pretty excited about this, my first one.
[Read More]Behind the green baize door
Posted on April 22, 2024
| 14 minutes
| 2910 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
ArtWhile 'upstart' butlers may make news, servants have largely been invisible in the history books. In art and fiction, however, they have long been an iconic presence, writes Alison LightDown ill-lit corridors the servant scurries, disappearing into darkened chambers, hurrying back to the kitchens or the courtyards, a blur on the edge of vision. Servants form the greatest part of that already silent majority - the labouring poor - who have for so long lived in the twilight zone of historical record.
[Read More]Escaped Alone review small talk and everyday terror from Caryl Churchill
Posted on April 22, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 594 words
| Merlyn Hunt
The ObserverTheatreReviewRoyal Court, London
Caryl Churchill’s magnificent new play unleashes an intricate, elliptical, acutely female view of the apocalypse
So which is the best moment in Caryl Churchill’s sizzling new play? Is it when Linda Bassett steps out of a cosy, brightly lit back garden and becomes Cassandra, sketching one of the horrors she sees the world bringing on itself? Famine will break out when 80% of food is “diverted to TV programmes”.
[Read More]