'Love, Rosie' - The Movie Review
Last night I attended the premiere of "Love, Rosie" the film adaptation of Cecelia Ahern's 2004 novel "Where Rainbows End." Fans of her previous novel and film "P.S. I Love You" will not be...
View Article'Success Is Not Final, Failure Is Not Fatal - It Is the Courage to Continue...
Success is not final, failure is not fatal - it is the courage to continue that counts - Winston Churchill Recently I was sitting on my balcony talking to a friend, who is a tutor, about what is...
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Downton Abbey and the Rise of Ukip: Soft Nationalism and the Politics of...
I must confess that I am a fan of Downton Abbey. But I am worried about the programme, seriously worried. We should not underestimate what a successful TV show can do. Downton Abbey is, in fact, a...
View ArticleRosamund Pike Is Right, We Do Have Unrealistic Expectations of Our Partners
Decades ago we had a generation of women who solely relied on their husbands for income and physical comfort. While the rise of the working woman has put paid to that, it seems there may be an...
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Making Twitter Work for Your Book
What to do if you're not JK Rowling, you don't have a big publishing house to promote you but you're determined to make your book a success? Twitter, like blogging, is essential to any book marketing...
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The Great British Bake Off Final: 10 Life Lessons We Can Learn From Series Five
It's been a vintage year for The Great British Bake Off, and as an avid cake-maker myself, I've watched the contestants produce outstanding show stoppers, inventive signature bakes and mind-boggling...
View ArticleToo Much Before We Explode
Here's another fly in the ointment; choice. When I came to the UK I would have killed for ice cream that wasn't chocolate or vanilla. Then my country started to make 31 flavours. Then 1,310 flavours....
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Human Suffering at Times of Crisis Art Show in Notting Hill
Barry Martin, a Goldsmiths graduate with artworks in the Tate collection, and Samir Ceric, the director of the Debut Contemporary art gallery in Notting Hill, decided to join forces to highlight an...
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'Damn Yankees' Hit it Out of the Park
If you go down to Clapham North today, you're sure of a big surprise: in the form of multi Tony award winning musical, Damn Yankees. A show packed full of certifiable Broadway classics including...
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Who You Gonna Call? - Nine Hilarious Women Perfect for 'Ghostbusters 3'
The untimely death of Harold Ramis ended the hopes of a reunion with Bull Murray and Dan Aykroyd to make a third chapter to the classic Ghostbusters series. However, rumours of a reboot, starring an...
View ArticleThe Rewrite - Movie Review
On Tuesday I attended the premiere of Hugh Grant's latest release "The Rewrite". I've always had a soft spot for Hugh Grant. From his awkward charm in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" to his beguiling...
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George the Poet: ''Rap Has Been Hijacked and Hip Hop Needs to Start Saying...
This Monday night October 13th, at London's Scala, a young man from northwest London will make his first big live debut. This young man is being hailed as the voice of urban Britain, the voice of...
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An Interview With Maximum the Hormone
As many of my regular readers know I have been yapping on rather incessantly about Japanese teen metal upstarts Babymetal since March this year and through them another, very unique, Japanese band...
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All-Female Henry IV Takes Over at Donmar Warehouse
Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts I &II have been compressed and transformed into a two-hour prison drama with an all-female cast in this bold production at the Donmar Warehouse. Prison Officers guard...
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Ricky Tomlinson, a Northern Soul
This is a very English film. The cast is English, the subject is English, the very audience to which it is aimed is English. As a return to the kitchen sink drama of yesteryear - which, in and of...
View ArticleMicrobirth: Why We All Need to Know About Seeding and Feeding a Baby's...
It is difficult to say anything about birth without someone somewhere saying the discussion is making them feel some degree of guilt. The guilt factor seems to have become the elephant in the room....
View ArticleNepal - Please Stop the Mass Animal Slaughter
Nepal is a really special country to me. My own father was a Gurkha officer and I was proud to be involved in the successful Gurkha Justice campaign, which won right of UK residence for Gurkha...
View ArticleBFI London: Why It's Time for Shanghai Goddess Ruan Lingyu to Grace the...
When I look upon the beautiful face of Chinese silent film actress Ruan Lingyu I observe so many things - beauty, history, reverence and tragedy all woven into one rich tapestry. If Helen of Troy had a...
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Julio Larraz: Rules of Engagements
Possessing a fascinating oeuvre that includes paintings, sculptors and caricatures, Julio Larraz is now recognised as one of the most important contemporary Latin American artists of our time. Born in...
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Steadfast: Make Some Noise Is Biggest Radio Appeal Ever
This weekend saw Steadfast, the new classical single written by Howard Goodall, help Global make history to raise more than £1 million for their brand new charity, Make Some Noise. Tenor Alfie Boe...
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