Reading Time: 5 minutes On 11th August 1987, the mutilated body of a young girl was found on the side of the A10 motorway, in the Loir-et-Cher region, south of Paris. A few weeks ago, DNA analysis finally enabled to put a name to the victim. Her parents, who never reported the missing child, are now being investigated in connection […]
Society
The Night England Won Me Back
Reading Time: 4 minutes There used to be a time when I was an unconditional England supporter. Living in Kilburn made it that much easier to get to Wembley Stadium to watch the Three Lions play really well, or get beaten out of sight by slick Continentals. I’ve seen just about all facets of the national side, and I […]
The Quipu Project: Exposing a Woman’s Darkest Hour in Peru
Reading Time: 7 minutes During Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori’s ten years in office, from 1990 to 2000, a family planning program was launched that resulted in 272,000 women and 21,000 men being sterilised. In 2016, Public Prosecutor Marcelita Gutiérrez, decided not to pursue the former president and several staff members of the Ministry of Health, for crimes against humanity. […]
Russia’s Fake World Cup
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the Russian town of Ekaterinburg, 14 households are currently cut off from the gas supplies for a month during the FIFA 2018 World Cup. The official reason, given by the authorities, is that the high-pressure gas supply is considered to be too dangerous during the period when the town hosts four group matches. This […]
Cultural Appropriation Is a Myth – I’m Not My Culture, I’m Me
Reading Time: 7 minutes The French and English cultures in which I grew up, influence my tastes and moral judgements. But they are not me…I am. Cultural appropriation is a myth because there is nothing to appropriate. For Tania de Montaigne, a French journalist and writer, Blacks do not exist, but blacks do. “Why the capital B?”, she asks. […]
- Society
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Facebook – When Human Nature Became An Algorithm
Reading Time: 4 minutes We are all victims of it – we all love it. My writings depend on it – your lives may revolve around it. Facebook is not his fault – it is ours. And worst of all, if Facebook disappeared tomorrow, it would be replaced the day after. The name Facebook says it all, depicting the […]
The Art Of Censorship, And The Censorship Of Art
Reading Time: 7 minutes MENU Film producers Jafar Panahi (Iran) and Wanuri Kahui (Kenya), A lady “Blackface” who lost her heads (Réunion Island), A poem that got lost in the web, A painting that got lost in a gallery in Manchester, but found its way back. ….welcome to the world of art. [beautifulquote align=”left” cite=””]Home, Sweet Home[/beautifulquote] Iranian film […]
Brexit Musings (22) – Hegel’s Song For Europe
Reading Time: 4 minutes I’m trying to understand, and have an interest in, a European phenomenon that has withstood the test of time, in a similar fashion to the iconic Doctor Who, but one that I have no understanding of, or interest in, at all. And, before all you unconditional Europhiles take a pick at me on Facebook, let […]
May 1968 – I Love Paris In The Springtime
Reading Time: 5 minutes It may not have escaped your notice that this month marks the 50th anniversary of the riots that took Paris by the scruff of the neck. The widespread violence, of May 1968, resulted in… well not much, apart from transforming Parisian little brats, dependent on their parents’ money into… liberated Parisian little brats, dependent on […]
- Psychology
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Left In The Cold – The Freeze Response And Rape Victims
Reading Time: 6 minutes You are probably aware of the so-called “fight-flight response”, also known as the “acute stress response”. It is a biological reaction to a stimulus perceived as an imminent threat to survival. The response is carried out by the autonomic nervous system – a control system that acts largely unconsciously and regulates heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate, pupillary response, urination, and sexual […]