Michael Woodford: the man who blew whistle on 1bn fraud | Olympus
Posted on April 11, 2024
| 8 minutes
| 1553 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Olympus This article is more than 11 years oldInterviewMichael Woodford: the man who blew whistle on £1bn fraudThis article is more than 11 years oldRupert NeateFormer Olympus chief executive tells of risks he ran in exposing fraud scandal at the digital camera company
"This is humbling. It's a long way from a private jet," Michael Woodford shouts out as he charges across five lanes of traffic and into the underground at Euston Square.
[Read More]Murder Is Easy review shines a whole new light on this Agatha Christie classic
Posted on April 11, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 889 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
TV reviewTelevision & radioReviewThis inventive take on a vintage crime tale replaces an English police officer with a Nigerian attaché. It tackles race, feminism and class, while still being quintessentially English
I wonder if the best call an actor can get from their agent is the offer of a part in an Agatha Christie adaptation. The opening credits for Murder Is Easy offer a tantalising roll call of big TV names, including Penelope Wilton, Mark Bonnar, Mathew Baynton and Jon Pointing, but the thing about a murder mystery in which the murderer has a rather long hitlist is that most of them appear for only a scene or two.
[Read More]'Insulting' to be dropped from section 5 of Public Order Act | Freedom of speech
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 3 minutes
| 554 words
| Christie Applegate
Freedom of speech This article is more than 11 years old'Insulting' to be dropped from section 5 of Public Order ActThis article is more than 11 years oldUsing insulting language will no longer be illegal in cases in which a specific victim cannot be identified, says home secretaryThe use of insulting language will no longer be illegal in cases in which a specific victim cannot be identified, the home secretary, Theresa May, has said.
[Read More]Arkansas carries out first double execution in the US for 16 years | Arkansas
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1223 words
| Christie Applegate
Arkansas This article is more than 6 years oldArkansas carries out first double execution in the US for 16 yearsThis article is more than 6 years oldExecution of Marcel Williams goes ahead despite legal wrangle over whether first lethal injection had gone wrong
The first double execution to take place in the US in 16 years was carried out by Arkansas on Monday night amid a fierce dispute over whether the prisoners were subjected to a botched procedure amounting to cruel and unusual punishment.
[Read More]Pixies frontman Black Francis: Kim Deal? Were always friends but nothing is for ever
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 9 minutes
| 1720 words
| Merlyn Hunt
The reader interviewPixiesAs the alt-rockers release a live box set, their frontman answers your questions on Bowie, his 40 new Pixies songs and the alarming sexuality of his pets
Come on Pilgrim is the greatest debut album by anyone, ever. Discuss. mungoslut
I will partially agree, at least to appear humble. But seeing as I’m not so humble … I was listening to Murmur by REM a lot just before Come on Pilgrim and that was hugely influential on me as a songwriter.
[Read More]Saving Freud by Andrew Nagorski review a real-life thriller
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 4 minutes
| 715 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Book of the daySigmund FreudReviewA gripping account of how colleagues and admirers spirited the psychoanalyst from Nazi-controlled Vienna to London
By the spring of 1938 everyone in Sigmund Freud’s circle, apart from the great man, could see that the game was up. In March, the Nazis had annexed Austria, putting the founder of psychoanalysis – known to them as “a Jewish pseudoscience” – at enormous risk. By now Freud was 82, terminally ill and determined not to panic.
[Read More]The great American tax haven: why the super-rich love South Dakota | Tax havens
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 23 minutes
| 4734 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
Illustration: Guardian DesignIt’s known for being the home of Mount Rushmore – and not much else. But thanks to its relish for deregulation, the state is fast becoming the most profitable place for the mega-wealthy to park their billions. by Oliver BulloughLate last year, as the Chinese government prepared to enact tough new tax rules, the billionaire Sun Hongbin quietly transferred $4.5bn worth of shares in his Chinese real estate firm to a company on a street corner in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, one of the least populated and least known states in the US.
[Read More]Trump used platform to tear E Jean Carrolls name to shreds, court hears | Donald Trump
Posted on April 10, 2024
| 6 minutes
| 1219 words
| Merlyn Hunt
Donald TrumpTrump used platform to tear E Jean Carroll’s name ‘to shreds’, court hears Lawyer for magazine columnist says Trump emboldened his followers to threaten and smear her after she accused him of rape
Donald Trump used his platform while he was US president to try to wreck E Jean Carroll’s name after she accused him of rape, her lawyer argued in a New York court on Tuesday, adding that Trump had also emboldened hardline followers to hurl smears and threats at her.
[Read More]Best crime and thrillers of 2023
Posted on April 9, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 912 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
2023 in CultureCrime fictionReviewA splendidly tricksy locked-room mystery, a fortune teller in Georgian high society and Indian mobsters make this year’s list Given this year’s headlines, it’s unsurprising that our appetite for cosy crime continues unabated, with the latest title in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, The Last Devil to Die (Viking), topping the bestseller lists. Janice Hallett’s novels The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, which also features a group of amateur crime-solvers, and The Christmas Appeal (both Viper) have proved phenomenally popular, too.
[Read More]Dame Clare Marx obituary | Doctors
Posted on April 9, 2024
| 5 minutes
| 975 words
| Barrett Giampaolo
DoctorsObituaryDame Clare Marx obituaryPioneering surgeon who became the first female chair of the General Medical Council
The trailblazing surgeon Clare Marx, who has died aged 68 from pancreatic cancer, broke innumerable glass ceilings and leaves a profound legacy. As the first female chair of the General Medical Council, she brought a culture of compassionate leadership to the organisation and consistently championed women in medicine.
Working initially at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, west London, Marx was the first British female trauma and orthopaedic (T&O) surgical trainee (1981) and the first female T&O consultant (1990).
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