On New Year’s Day 1994, fiery, clever Melinda French married billionaire super-nerd William Gates III in Lanai, Hawaii. It turned out to be one of the most globally influential partnerships of the last quarter of century. Cosmically speaking, it was a wonderful day for a wedding, blessed [...]

Just after the Full Moon, on 18 February 1897, a British expeditionary force breached the great walls of the city of Benin, capital of one of the wealthiest kingdoms in West Africa.  An orgy of looting, murder and arson ensued. The city was razed, its priests were executed, and the Oba, the [...]

After Roy Halston Frowicker died in San Francisco in 1990, the obituaries where cautious, muted, a little salty. Maybe it was because he’d lost his business, maybe it was because of the louche lifestyle, or maybe it was just because of the cruelty of fashion: by 1990, Halston was just so [...]

If ever you wondered whether this country were in the grip of a prolonged nervous breakdown, take a millisecond to peruse the extraordinary media response to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with the redoubtable queen across the water, Oprah Winfrey. That was aired last night [...]

https://audioboom.com/posts/7773358 I’m publishing this a bit early this month… so much going on!

  On January 6, the seat of American democracy, the Capitol, was invaded by a mob. Lawmakers were hustled into hiding, while the place was overrun by a motley crew of mostly white men, some dressed for combat, some for the pantomime, and some for a corporate awayday. It was shocking [...]

Details from the Journey of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Palazzo Medici. These are the two senior kings — Balthazar and Melchior. The mightiest  planets known to the ancients, great Jupiter and stern Saturn, will meet on December 21, 2020 for the first time in 20 years. They will [...]

If you listen to Sally and Christina Talk Astrology, my monthly podcast,  you will know that I picked Joe Biden to win and we agreed that there would be delays and recounts. This was a pretty straightforward bit of astrology, since Donald Trump had such bad transits, and the election took [...]

In Mister Rogers’ neighbourhood people are honest, your feelings are important, and you are special. Mister Rogers exuded goodness of heart, purity of intention and folksy wisdom. He was the opposite of cynical. I was tiny when I watched his show but I still remember how Mister Rogers [...]

The British government under the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his advisor Dominic  Cummings is attempting to pass a law to break international law on Monday. They are trying to pass a bill through parliament which will allow them to break the Brexit agreement which they [...]

My Dad died at around 8.30am on July 31. His passing was pleasant, I’m told. He was in his own bed, in his own house. His carer came to find him, breezily calling down the corridor, and sailing into his room. Seeing he was still supine, she said his name, he replied, “Oui”, [...]

The redoubtable Alexandria Ocasio Cortez made a blistering speech to congress on July 23, in response to being verbally assaulted by Representative Ted Yoho on the steps of that institution. It’s worth hearing from beginning to end. Doubtless one day it will be taught to schoolchildren. [...]

When George Floyd was murdered on May 25 by a police officer in Minneapolis kneeling on his windpipe, his final words were: “I can’t breathe.” Somehow, this statement resonates powerfully with our time, and it was taken up by demonstrators across the US. “I can’t [...]

New York City is taking a battering. The virus appears to be stomping through the five boroughs like a horrible hungry ghost, killing people, emptying streets, destroying livelihoods. And yet, at the same time, New York’s famous resilience, resistance, sense of humour,and sheer vitality [...]

My supermarket is a cornucopia –– shelves of fresh vegetables from Kenya, South Africa and Spain, glistening fruit, vacuum-packed meat (as far from the carcass as possible), smoked salmon from Scotland and Alaska, pimentos from Alicante, olive oil from Tuscany, yoghurt from Thessaloniki, rye [...]

  “All I want is for people to experience a sense of joy when they wear my clothes.” If you have ever owned a garment made from one swathe of cloth, folded and cut into a shape that drapes and clings, flares and flutters, or creates an alien silhouette; that felt like a second, [...]

An odd feature of the current crisis — in this country — is the fact that the head of government has been missing for most of the time. Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to take the pandemic seriously back in February, missing five meetings on the subject, taking two weeks’ [...]

New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefings about the Coronavirus have become comfort-viewing for millions over the past few weeks. As he sits behind the great big wooden desk in New York’s state capital Albany every day and calmly explains the numbers, the plan and the [...]

She lives in daydreams with me She’s the first one that I see And I don’t know why I don’t know who she is … ” — She Talented, graceful Aquarian Harry Styles is much more than a pop star, indeed he appears to be channelling something bigger than himself [...]

Laura Dern just won the Oscar for best supporting actress. A well-deserved tribute to an actress whose electric screen presence is always mesmerising — even when she’s just ordering a kale salad in Marriage Story. Dern’s chart is just so Hollywood, with a massive stellium in [...]