The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Ce

 Posted on June 20, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  912 words  |  Valentine Belue

History booksReviewJames Buchan enjoys an encyclopedic account of Germany's 'idealism with efficiency'For a while in the 1980s, I used to spend my Sundays in the Old Cemetery in the town of Bonn in the Rhineland. Wandering amid the provincial tombs, I was forever coming across some stupendous intellectual celebrity. Here were Beethoven's mother and Schiller's wife; Clara and Robert Schumann; August Wilhelm Schlegel; Mathilde Wesendonck, for whom Wagner wrote his most beautiful music; FWA Argelander, who mapped three hundred thousand stars. [Read More]

You be the judge: should my boyfriend stop farting in front of me?

 Posted on June 20, 2024  |  7 minutes  |  1309 words  |  Valentine Belue

You be the judgeRelationshipsHe thinks it’s natural and funny. She thinks it’s gross and it kills the romance. Can you smell a rat? Find out how to get a disagreement settled or become a You Be the Judge juror The prosecution: AstridIt’s offensive, it stinks, it’s disrespectful and it kills the romance between us I will always go to the bathroom to fart rather than doing it in front of my boyfriend Alex. [Read More]

Adopting older children can be the start of a special bond

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  12 minutes  |  2478 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

Self and wellbeingLife and styleFor one mother, a potentially challenging choice turned out to be amazingly fulfilling When Margaret Reynolds was in her mid-40s, she was a successful writer, academic and broadcaster. One winter’s morning, she asked herself what she would like in her life that she did not already have. The answer was clear and quick: she realised she’d like to have a child. She wanted to be a mother. [Read More]

Echo review the bloodiest show ever seen on Disney proves theres life in the MCU yet!

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  911 words  |  Valentine Belue

TV reviewTelevisionReviewA pandemic of Marvel fatigue is sweeping the globe. But this gnarly series about a young, deaf amputee assassin has some of the best action scenes in the entire multiverse – and it may just help save the day The line between super-heroism and super-villainy is in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone would agree with the moral imperatives of a masked billionaire tackling street crime (Batman), a Holocaust survivor fighting for equal rights (Magneto) or an alien committed to “truth, justice and the American way” (Superman). [Read More]

Liberalism and Its Discontents by Francis Fukuyama review a defence of liberalismfrom a for

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  998 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

Book of the dayFrancis FukuyamaReviewIn this slim, elegant book, the author of The End of History outlines with crystalline precision why the liberal spirit, for all its qualities, cannot grow complacent I read this book, which is a thoughtful critique but ultimately a stalwart defence of liberalism, as Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, and it felt urgent and timely. Vladimir Putin, as Francis Fukuyama reminds us, has declared liberal democracy “obsolete”. [Read More]

Marjorie Prime review gently uncanny sci-fi shows us how to love an AI

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  443 words  |  Aldo Pusey

TheatreReviewMenier Chocolate Factory, London Anne Reid shines in this delicately written drama about a woman with dementia living with a robot re-creation of her late husband as a young man Jordan Harrison’s gently uncanny play imagines a future solution for a person in mourning: the recreation of someone you love as an artificial intelligence. In the early stages of dementia, Marjorie (a shining Anne Reid) finds comfort in Walter Prime, an AI version of her dead husband. [Read More]

Neal Preston's best photograph: Robert Plant catches a dove | Photography

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  766 words  |  Chauncey Koziol

‘With the dove and the Newcastle Brown Ale, it’s so British and so Robert’ … the Led Zeppelin singer at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, 1973. Photograph: Neal Preston‘With the dove and the Newcastle Brown Ale, it’s so British and so Robert’ … the Led Zeppelin singer at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, 1973. Photograph: Neal PrestonMy best shotPhotographyInterviewNeal Preston's best photograph: Robert Plant catches a doveInterview by Tim Jonze‘I was Led Zeppelin’s tour photographer. [Read More]

The mother of all worries: why do women fret about their children more than men do?

 Posted on June 19, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1241 words  |  Valentine Belue

‘For my children, one still a teenager, 3am counts as an early night these days.’ Composite: Getty‘For my children, one still a teenager, 3am counts as an early night these days.’ Composite: GettyFamilyFathers seem to be blissfully immune to the constant low-level anxiety that besets mothersI am the mother of two young people, one still a teenager, who work hard and play hard. Living in London, this means they often end up in a club in Brixton, at a party in Peckham or a rave in Hackney. [Read More]

A brother in trouble: dealing with suicide

 Posted on June 18, 2024  |  15 minutes  |  3049 words  |  Valentine Belue

The ObserverFamilyGary could be warm and funny, but he could also 'start a fight in an empty room'. At 42, he killed himself. His brother, novelist John Niven, believes he might have saved him. With an unflinching eye, he reflects on how an author deals with griefDuring the spring and summer of 2007 I wrote my second novel, a comic romp called The Amateurs. The story was set in Ayrshire, Scotland, where I come from, and revolved around two brothers, Gary and Lee. [Read More]

CNN's end of the world Doomsday video | Media

 Posted on June 18, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  110 words  |  Valentine Belue

CNN CNN's end of the world Doomsday video If the end of the world comes, US cable channel CNN has prepared a video to be played by the last surviving employee. According to former CNN intern Michael Ballaban, who posted the footage online, the video has been prepared for Doomsday. It is a low-res video of a US army band playing a mournful redition of Nearer My God to Thee• The apocalypse will be live: CNN's mythical end of the world video is real Source: YouTube [Read More]