Listening to Brian May’s multi-tracked epic on a battered cassette player when I lived in repressive Havana inspired lit a spark of rebellion inside me Throughout my childhood and teenage years growing up in 80s Cuba, Fidel Castro’s presence, and the overt influence of politics, was everywhere – on posters, on walls, in speeches that could last four hours at a stretch. The sense of being hemmed in...
Listening to Brian May’s multi-tracked epic on a battered cassette player when I lived in repressive Havana inspired lit a spark of rebellion inside me Throughout my childhood and teenage years growing up in 80s Cuba, Fidel Castro’s presence, and the overt influence of politics, was everywhere – on posters, on walls, in speeches that could last four hours at a stretch. The sense of being hemmed in, politically and personally, was hard to escape. I had been raised to believe in communism, and for a long time I did. I even applied twice to join the Young Communist League, only to be rejected for not being “combative” enough: code for not informing on others. Friends were expelled from university or jailed for speaking too freely and my family included people in the military and police, so I had to be careful not to endanger them. But amid that stifling conformity, something else had begun to take hold. Continue reading...
From Blue Monday and Candy Girl to ‘Violet, you’re turning violet’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 Lydia of Thyatira is claimed to be the first person in Europe to do what? 2 In what country do mountain lions eat penguins? 3 Single pot still is a style of what drink? 4 “Violet, you’re turning violet” is a line in what book? 5 Whose Easter Sonata was originally attributed to her broth...
From Blue Monday and Candy Girl to ‘Violet, you’re turning violet’, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz 1 Lydia of Thyatira is claimed to be the first person in Europe to do what? 2 In what country do mountain lions eat penguins? 3 Single pot still is a style of what drink? 4 “Violet, you’re turning violet” is a line in what book? 5 Whose Easter Sonata was originally attributed to her brother? 6 Which two small UK cities share a name? 7 Who spoke the pitmatic dialect? 8 Which football team won five NASL titles? What links: 9 Mercedes-Benz cars; MySQL database; Tootsie Roll sweet; Wendy’s burgers? 10 Michael Henchard; John Loveday; Elfride Swancourt; Clym Yeobright? 11 Beg, Steal or Borrow; Blue Monday; Candy Girl; Hangin’ Tough? 12 1 (1st); 55 (10th); 75,025 (25th); 12,586,269,025 (50th)? 13 First Consul for Life; Co-Prince of Andorra; King of Italy; Sovereign of Elba? 14 Women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, long jump, discus, shot put and heptathlon? 15 Chicago; Buenos Aires; Marktl, Bavaria; Wadowice, Poland? Continue reading...
Meal at Mayfair club took place on day Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick criticised former PM’s mini-budget If it was on the menu, a side helping of lettuce never made it to the table. Over blood-red steak and chips, Nigel Farage and Liz Truss came together on Monday for a discreet lunch at a swish Mayfair club, organised by a climate-denying US thinktank. Lois Perry, a former leader of the far-right Uki...
Meal at Mayfair club took place on day Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick criticised former PM’s mini-budget If it was on the menu, a side helping of lettuce never made it to the table. Over blood-red steak and chips, Nigel Farage and Liz Truss came together on Monday for a discreet lunch at a swish Mayfair club, organised by a climate-denying US thinktank. Lois Perry, a former leader of the far-right Ukip party who is now Europe director of the Heartland Institute, posted photographs, now deleted, on X of Farage addressing others, including Truss, at the meal. Continue reading...
The process of learning to catch a wave is an all-consuming activity that can prove to be a powerful therapeutic tool I can’t remember when my terror of waves began in earnest. Maybe it was a singular incident that triggered it, like that monster wave in Biarritz, France, almost 20 years ago that body-slammed me on to the seabed, taking all the skin off my chin. More likely is that my transition f...
The process of learning to catch a wave is an all-consuming activity that can prove to be a powerful therapeutic tool I can’t remember when my terror of waves began in earnest. Maybe it was a singular incident that triggered it, like that monster wave in Biarritz, France, almost 20 years ago that body-slammed me on to the seabed, taking all the skin off my chin. More likely is that my transition from fearless to frightened had been more of a slow creep, and a perfectly rational one when you consider the danger of riptides, hidden rocks, sharks and concussion. But for me, I feel it goes deeper. Almost inevitably my job will have had something to do with this. Nearly two decades of working as a journalist reporting on the very worst things that human beings can do to other human beings in a wide array of contexts has definitely eroded my sense that I can keep myself – and others – safe from harm in a dangerous world. Continue reading...
From handbags to drug gangs to central banks – one of Britain’s finest investigative reporters reveals the surprising links in a global chain of crime Question: why, if almost half of us now use cash only a few times a year, are high-denomination banknotes being printed in increasingly large numbers? In April 2024, the value of all the dollar bills in circulation reached an all-time high of $2.345...
From handbags to drug gangs to central banks – one of Britain’s finest investigative reporters reveals the surprising links in a global chain of crime Question: why, if almost half of us now use cash only a few times a year, are high-denomination banknotes being printed in increasingly large numbers? In April 2024, the value of all the dollar bills in circulation reached an all-time high of $2.345tn, and may well be even more than that by now. The total value of dollars in the world has doubled every decade since the 1970s. Similarly, there are 1.552tn euro notes in circulation, while most other currencies – the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc and so on – are all at something like their highest levels in history. This at a time when so many of us have pretty much stopped using cash altogether, and even the people who sell the Big Issue in our streets are equipped with card readers. When I talk about “us”, I mean those who don’t have to worry about hiding huge cash profits from drug dealing, people-smuggling and so on. And that of course provides the answer to the question: while law-abiding citizens like you and I have to jump through hoops when we move even relatively small sums around for entirely legitimate reasons – buying a fridge or a secondhand car, say – drug dealers just shove bundles of the stuff into their coat pockets or suitcases and whisk them round the world in order to keep their business going. The number of dogs trained to sniff out cash at international airports is growing, but nothing like as fast as the rate at which big-denomination notes are being pumped out by the world’s central banks. And the ways in which money is laundered are growing in complexity and sophistication. Continue reading...
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Will Palantir Stock Skyrocket After Feb. 2? Yahoo Finance Should You Buy Palantir Stock Before Feb. 2? The Motley Fool Palantir's Revenue Surge: Don't Let P/E Ratios Fool You Seeking Alpha