Top 10 great foxes in childrens books | Children's books
Posted on June 14, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 815 words
| Chauncey Koziol
Fantastic Mr. Fox in a sceme from the animated movie directed by Wes Anderson. Photograph: 20TH CENTURY FOX / HO/EPAFantastic Mr. Fox in a sceme from the animated movie directed by Wes Anderson. Photograph: 20TH CENTURY FOX / HO/EPAChildren's booksChildren's booksTop 10 great foxes in children’s booksAli Sparkes, author of the Dax Jones Shapeshifters series, shares her favourite foxy fables A fox has been stalking me for more than a decade.
[Read More]Why "a load of cobblers"? Were cobblers once regarded as deceitful people, much like estate agents a
Posted on June 14, 2024
| 1 minutes
| 154 words
| Aldo Pusey
SEMANTIC ENIGMASWhy "a load of cobblers"? Were cobblers once regarded as deceitful people, much like estate agents are today? It's a euphemism. Shoes were sewn with thread which had to be waterproofed to stop the seams leaking. This was done by passing the thread through a lump of wax - a cobbler's ball. Maxine Goda, Liverpool
"Cobblers" is a corruption of "cobbles" - small, round stones - used as a euphemism for testicles, or 'balls'.
[Read More]Football transfer rumours: PSG to rival Man City for Bayerns Kimmich?
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 532 words
| Chauncey Koziol
Rumour MillParis Saint-GermainToday’s whispers are writing it down, just like George McFly
How is Joshua Kimmich only 28 years old? He has seemingly been at the top of the game for decades, an elite Swiss-army knife of a player that has been operating at either full-back, central midfield or any of the inverted libero, withdrawn raumdeuter positions that seem to be in vogue these days. He’s just a very, very good footballer, and Bayern would be mad to lose him, but lose him they might.
[Read More]How renewable energy could power Britain's economic recovery
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1169 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
The green recoveryUK newsHarnessing power from sun, wind and sea could spur UK’s post-pandemic economy while tackling climate crisis, say experts
Is the Covid-19 crisis the catalyst for greening the world’s airlines? Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage In the first months of 2020 Britain relied on renewable energy like never before. The power generated by clean energy projects eclipsed fossil fuels for the first time ever, making up almost half the electricity used to keep the lights on.
[Read More]How to Be Remembered by Michael Thompson review a proudly earnest first novel
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 762 words
| Chauncey Koziol
Australian book reviewsAustralian booksReviewThe story of Tommy, a boy who is forgotten on the same day each year by everyone who knows him
Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email How to Be Remembered is an ambitious first novel from the journalist and podcaster Michael Thompson. Its big-hearted conceit is constructed around Tommy, a boy whose entire existence is wiped from the memory of everyone who knows him each year on the fifth of January.
[Read More]Macbeth (An Undoing) review Lady M does what Shakespeare didnt dare
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 427 words
| Valentine Belue
TheatreReviewRoyal Lyceum, Edinburgh
Zinnie Harris’s reworking has Macbeth’s wife driving the plot, rationalising a grisly campaign, while he becomes unbalanced by their murderous path To summon up witches is to play with fire. Could the same be true about summoning up a dead playwright? That is what writer/director Zinnie Harris does in her audacious conjuring of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It is not so much a revival as an exhumation, one in which she dares to speculate what the playwright might have done had he been true to his own instincts.
[Read More]No Logo at 20: have we lost the battle against the total branding of our lives?
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 19 minutes
| 3851 words
| Valentine Belue
The ObserverNaomi KleinIt was the bestseller that brilliantly critiqued the political power of the ‘superbrands’ and shot Naomi Klein to fame. Two decades on, we ask her, how does it stand up in our world of tech giants and personal brands?
Some political books capture the zeitgeist with such precision that they seem to blur the lines between the page and the real world and become part of the urgent, rapidly unfolding changes they are describing.
[Read More]Tales from the vaults |
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 765 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
The ObserverTales from the vaultsOlga Korbut
As a 17-year-old she won international fame with two individual golds and one as part of the Soviet Union's team at the 1972 Olympics. But the gymnast from what is now independent Belarus later claimed that her coach, Renald Knysh, raped her before a competition. Korbut emigrated to the United States in 1991 and, in 2002, her house was ransacked by bailiffs after her mortgage was left unpaid.
[Read More]Top 10 Sapphic love stories
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1272 words
| Valentine Belue
Top 10sBooksThe days when lesbian stories were always racked with anguish are behind us. As Pride month gets under way, here is some rather more joyful reading
Are fictional lesbians always miserable?
When I first came out and started anxiously reading the “Sapphic canon”, I feared that was the case. Classics such as The Well of Loneliness, The Color Purple, Stone Butch Blues, or indeed Sappho’s poetry, told me that falling in love with a woman could be profound and beautiful, but it would not be fun.
[Read More]Twisted Toys campaign highlights dangers for children in digital playgrounds | Children
Posted on June 13, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 541 words
| Jenniffer Sheldon
Children This article is more than 2 years oldTwisted Toys campaign highlights dangers for children in digital playgroundsThis article is more than 2 years oldCampaign is producing satirical video ads and made-up product descriptions to bring awareness to dangers of digital playgrounds
Parents, advocates and lawmakers would be outraged if teddy bears tracked children’s sleep patterns, toys spewed racist vitriol, or walkie-talkies linked up children with sexual predators.
But online, according to a new awareness campaign launching Wednesday, young people are constantly immersed in a digital playground designed without safety in mind, leaving them vulnerable to bullying, unwanted contact and exploitation.
[Read More]