Move over, Meghan Markle; move over, Kate Moss. The newest style icon to have “effect” attached to their name is the soul-searching, relatable millennial Fleabag. In the aftermath of Monday night’s final episode, the titular character’s wardrobe choices have become just as much a talking point as “hot priests” – and this has proved profitable…
The NBA playoffs: all 16 contenders reviewed and ranked
It feels incredibly strange to look at the NBA playoffs and realize that, for the first time what seems like a lifetime, LeBron James won’t be a part of the proceedings. Thanks to a freshman campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers that was so stressful that team president Magic Johnson shocked the basketball world by…
Uber admits driver ‘dissatisfaction’ and workplace culture are IPO risk factors
When Uber filed the paperwork for its initial public offering on Thursday, the quintessential bad boy startup signaled to the world that it was ready to grow up. In a letter to potential investors, the CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, acknowledged the “greater responsibilities” the company will take on once it goes public, and promised to act…
Julian Assange: the wedge that created a divide among Trump loyalists
The charges that led to Julian Assange’s arrest have nothing to do with the 2016 presidential election or the Mueller investigation into Donald Trump’s Russian ties, but the extradition case and Assange’s possible arrival in the US will be electrified by all those unresolved issues. “I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,” Donald…
Republicans falsely claim Ilhan Omar denied 9/11 attackers were terrorists
A Republican congressman has spread false allegations that the US representative Ilhan Omar denied the September 11 hijackers were terrorists, as part of a new wave of abuse directed at her by some conservatives. Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas shared a tweet falsely reporting that Omar had said she “does not consider [September 11] a…
Indivior shares plunge after US indictment over opioid drug scheme
The British pharmaceutical firm Indivior had more than £560m wiped from its market value on Wednesday after it was indicted over an alleged fraudulent marketing scheme to push its treatment for people addicted to opioids. The US indictment demanded the forfeiture of $3bn in cash, as well as all of Invidior’s main business units, bank…
‘I see myself in them’: the documentary that humanizes sex workers
“You can’t just walk away,” says Kandie, as she describes the reality of what it’s like to leave a pimp. “There is no just walking away.” In walking away and leaving her exploiter behind, she “blew up”, a phrase used by Emmy nominated film-maker Stephanie Wang-Breal in her new documentary Blowin’ Up. In it, she…
‘No rules in this job’: Cairo’s violent waste wars pit sorters against startups
“People do not just fight over garbage here, I have seen them fight to the death over garbage,” says Samaan Girgis. “There are no rules in this job.” Girgis is one of the Zabaleen (Arabic for “garbage people”), Cairo’s army of informal workers that collects refuse for conversion into valuable raw materials. Girgis lives with…
Ottessa Moshfegh: ‘I erase the books I love from my mind – it’s how I move on’
The book I am currently readingAn advanced copy of The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown by Julia Flynn Siler. The book that changed my lifeI can’t really say. Maybe I am a bit too militant about detachment, but every time I love a book, my heart breaks for…
Why is Donald Trump obsessed with Bane in The Dark Knight Rises?
There are many superheroes an ailing American president might choose to associate with in an effort to pick up some much needed kudos. Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns features a version of Superman who is in thrall to Ronald Reagan. In the film Iron Man 3, the fictional President Matthew Ellis…