Salman Rushdie Less than two years ago, Salman Rushdie was stabbed 12 times on stage in New York by an attacker who thought him “disingenuous”.  It would not have been a surprising event decades ago when he was prominently facing a fatwa called for by the Ayatollah Ruhollah for writing “The Satanic Verses”, but felt out of the blue so many years later and his injuries were horrific.  Surgeons were not sure he would survive, but gradually he has recovered enough to write “Knife”, an account of his survival and recovery, published this week, and gave his first major interview, to his o ..read more

O.J. Simpson (1947 – 2024) “They were a dramatic, fractious, mutually obsessed couple before they married, after they married, after they divorced in 1992, and after they reconciled.” ~ Sheila Weller American football star, actor, murder suspect O.J. Simpson died this week, from prostate cancer, at the age of 76.  Although he was unanimously acquitted by a jury in 1995 after a lengthy and highly publicised trial (“the trial of the century”), for the murder of Nicole Brown, in many minds he was guilty. Birth Chart A Cancerian, his was a highly emotional chart, with half his planets (5) in ..read more

John Torode and Gregg Wallace Celebrating 20 years of Masterchef “Cooking doesn’t get tougher than this!” ~ Gregg Wallace John Torode and Gregg Wallace were celebrating 20 years of their collaborative presenting of Masterchef this week (on the This Morning sofa), although perhaps it is more true to say the completion of 20 years, as their format did not actually start until 2005.  Originally, the show was presented by Lloyd Grossman.  The show is hardly off our screens these days, with variations such as The Professionals, Celebrity Masterchef and Junior MasterChef. John Torode Birth ..read more

Bernard Williams (1929 – 2003) “He understands what you’re going to say better than you understand it yourself, and sees all the possible objections to it, and all the possible answers to all the possible objections, before you’ve got to the end of your own sentence.” ~ Gilbert Ryle Time for the next in my zodiacal series of Philosophers, and we now come to Virgo, for which I have chosen Bernard Williams, who was a leading British intellectual in the late 20th century.  His specialism was Ethics, and he was not so much an innovator as an interpreter, critic and analyst – very much a Virgo ..read more

Bryan Ferry, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall I have written about the love triangle between Pattie Boyd, George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and the entanglements of the various members of Fleetwood Mac…but it was pointed out this week that I haven’t written about the “love triangle” between Ferry, Jagger and Hall.  In the Daily Telegraph on 26th February, James Hall wrote about love triangles, and included this one.  He wrote: “Mick Jagger’s infatuation for Jerry Hall while she was with Bryan Ferry – he famously chased her around the ping-pong table at the couple’s home trying to kiss her ..read more

Diane Abbott “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you’re just like, I hate, you just want to hate all black women because she’s there” ~ Frank Hester A shocking statement reported this week from Frank Hester a few years ago had a wave of sympathy sent Diane Abbott’s way, and political reverberations which are still ongoing.  Diane was already the MP receiving the most abuse, but this was a dangerous attack.  I have always had a certain amount of sympathy for her, based on the loyalty of her constituents, but she has received criticism of some of h ..read more

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) and Taylor Swift “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre.” ~ Taylor Swift A genealogical link was reported this week between America’s currently most popular singer Taylor Swift, and its most popular female poet, Emily Dickinson.  Popular genealogy site Ancestry  revealed that they are sixth cousins thrice removed.  Is it possible also that Taylor Swift may be a reincarnation of Emily Dickinson? Part 1 Emily Dickinson “Some keep the Sabbath goi ..read more

Lindsay Hoyle “Just when you hoped you’d reached rock bottom, parliament finds a way of going still lower…Everyone wanted a ceasefire.  Only they wanted their own ceasefire, not anyone else’s ceasefire.” ~ John Crace You will have seen the chaos in Parliament this week, specifically Wednesday evening.  It was to have been the day for the Scottish National Parliament to put forward their amendment on the situation in Gaza.  Instead, the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, against protocol allowed an extra amendment to be put forward by the Labour Party for voting, a new stance for them, steal ..read more

Alexei Navalny (1976 – 2024) “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing” ~ Alexei Navalny We learned on Friday of the death at the age of 47 of that bravest of men, Alexei Navalny, who dared to stand up to Vladimir Putin, in the hope of keeping democracy alive and possibly being a contender for his replacement.  He identified fear as being the stumbling block, and urged people to never give up. On Friday evening’s Newsnight (a programme they should not be axing) an array of experts appeared, speculating on what had happened.  They ranged from a ..read more

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce “No one is more influential when it comes to writing music today”. ~ National music Publishers’ Association, 2021 The power couple of the moment is singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her American football star Travis Kelce.  Taylor is on tour in Japan, flying back to America tonight for her boyfriend’s appearance at the Super Bowl.  To add to the anticipation, Republicans are nervous in case she endorses Biden at the event. Birth Chart We have a birth time for Taylor of 5.17 a.m. West Reading, Pennsylvania, but it is not wholly reliable, so I will use it ..read more