American Idiot: The Musical, review: Pulsating Green Day grunge-fest throbs with energy of a Billie Joe Armstrong gig
You can say what you like about American Idiot but a feeble Sondheim rip-off it resoundingly ain't.
You can say what you like about American Idiot but a feeble Sondheim rip-off it resoundingly ain't.
In Islamic tradition, the “people of the book” (Ahl al-Kitab) consist of Muslims, Jews and Christians. As Islam spread into the Indian sub-continent, Hindus later came under the same broad umbrella.
Those of us who supported Labour when it won elections ought to be angry with Ed Miliband for what he has done to the party. Not only did he fail to win on 7 May, but he has ensured that the party is further away from ever winning again.
For an athlete who has broken the 100m British women’s record already this season as well as running the quickest 200m by a British woman for 31 years, Dina Asher-Smith could be forgiven for exuding an air of smugness.
The biggest draw of this weekend’s Anniversary Games at London’s Olympic Stadium is a man who ran a season’s best of 10.13 seconds for the 100 metres on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach all the way back in April.
The insidious tradition of forced marriage has become widespread in the UK. Sensitivity towards different cultures and traditions has exacerbated this inhumane custom, with government ministers at first hesitant to interfere in cultural practices they may not understand.
“Can you help us?” a young woman bearing a clipboard asked me one day this week as I walked through Bryant Park here in Manhattan. As I mustered my usual sorry-in-a-frightful-hurry expression and scooted past, I glimpsed the logo of Planned Parenthood. Maybe I should have stopped.
It seems that barely a week goes by without the media offering up a little invigorating shot of someone else’s personal pain, just to make us feel more alive. It might be a candid, behind-the-scenes account of cruelty to a child, or a fatal illness, or some particularly miserable and shocking death. We read or watch the story, experience a lurch of sadness, and then move on, our empathy levels topped up.
That sunny Friday morning, 8 May 2020, as Britain woke up to the shock of realising that it was to be led by the oldest man to first enter Prime Ministerial office since Lord Palmerston, the election victor paused for the cameras outside 10 Downing Street and made, with some of that self-deprecating charm which had surfaced to such effect during the campaign, the shortest of speeches.
In Whitehall and the City, the buzz is of the “new settlement”. It was a phrase the Chancellor used repeatedly in his annual Mansion House speech to senior bankers last month. What was seized upon by most commentators was the first time he used it, as in a “new settlement” for the way we manage our public finances.
Does Tony Blair mean nothing to the Labour Party? Did he live and lead his party in vain?
Ashley Madison’s slogan, “Life is short. Have an affair,” makes it perfectly clear what the site has to offer. It doesn’t hide anything. It may as well be saying “Come on, deceive the person you vowed to be with for the rest of your life”. Although that’s not quite as catchy.
Encouraging news in the field of dementia drug research could not have come a moment sooner.
The British media abounds with highly emotive adoption stories, and this week was no exception. Howls of protest sounded in some areas of the press at the news that a three year old girl was forcibly put up for adoption this week, against the will of her loving grandparents, allegedly because they were judged ‘too old’ to care for her. It was reported that the mother of the child had lost custody of her due to severe mental health problems, but that her parents were willing to take on special guardianship... Читать дальше...
Being “ghosted” is one of the toughest ways to be dumped. What do we mean by the term? It’s when someone you’ve been seeing suddenly ceases all contact with you. They defriend you on Facebook, stop following you on Twitter and avoid responding to calls, texts and emails. They just disappear; fade out of your life mysteriously…
After the General Election, I did swear off looking at polls. But now here I am again, glued to their latest offering, faced with a YouGov poll that is so tantalisingly optimistic for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership quest. The poll places his support at 43 per cent. And I have to admit, that one was a welcome break from political monotony for a young pro-Corbyn Labourite like myself.
Once upon a time, enjoying a smoke-free meal was a matter of luck. If a group of smokers decided to light up over at the next table, you were given a simple choice: breathe in the tar-laden fumes or bugger off.
Ikea, the self-assembly furniture giant, has announced that it will be introducing the living wage next year. Those who campaigned for it are celebrating it as a major victory. And granted, they have won the debate: just about everybody seems to be in favour of the living wage these days. But does that make it good economics?
I could note that, after preferences are transferred, Jeremy Corbyn would be ahead by “just” 53 per cent to 47 per cent for Andy Burnham in today’s YouGov poll for The Times.
I went to the Strand Group at the Treasury on Monday to hear Jon Davis, Sir Nick Macpherson, Sir Douglas Wass and Charles Clarke (pictured above) talk about Charles’s father.
The Hallé Orchestra, one of the nation’s finest cultural assets – indeed, a musical Northern Powerhouse all on its own – has decided to find out just how “priceless” members of the public really think it is.
John Kasich became the 16th, and probably the last, Republican to announce he is a candidate for his party’s 2016 presidential nomination. By any yardstick he is one of the most qualified: a Congressman for 18 years with proven expertise in both economic and national security policy, and now a successful two-term Governor of Ohio, a vital swing state in every election.