X factor

'I found it really funny, especially because people are always joking that my dad is so tough to be around,' she said. 'It's nice to see that we're not the only ones that maybe have dad things.' … [Read more...] about Celebrity Show-Off: Rumer Willis beats sisters in Fear Factor-style game on season premiere of show

It comes out firmly on the side of nurture, not nature. The study examines outcomes for adopted children, comparing their wealth with that of both their biological and adoptive parents, and finds that environmental, not biological, factors are crucial. Once we add inheritances back in, the role of ability (inherited or otherwise) is even smaller. As the paper puts it: “Even in egalitarian Sweden, wealth begets wealth.” In less egalitarian Britain, this should equally alarm socialists on the left and meritocrats on the right. … [Read more...] about Egalitarians be warned: wealth begets wealth

However, not all analogue or traditional forms of culture have been able or willing to migrate to digital platforms. New tech is allowing major cultural institutions to keep in contact with their audiences. Yet artists are chaffing at its constraints. The digital world is an amazing resource to sharpen our appetite for live events but it is not a substitute for them. Online may amplify live cultural experiences in all sorts of ways but it isn’t an alternative. … [Read more...] about Culture comforted us in lockdown, now we must join the fight for its survival

We know by now that John Wick (Keanu Reeves, wearing stubble and an increasingly machete‑slashed black suit) is not in the business of taking prisoners. And neither, it seems, is the production design team of this riotous, relentless third instalment. It’s not just the violence that’s excessive. Pretty much every frame is a flying kick to the senses. The distinctive aesthetic – a kind of hi-tech baroque, with a touch of fetishy transgression for good measure – is not the only reason that this action series punches above its weight. But it is a significant factor. After all, a fight scene is a fight scene is a fight scene, even one featuring some of the most highly skilled martial arts practitioners in the world (look out for purveyors of Indonesian tower-block carnage from The Raid). But put a fight scene in a room stacked with antique ceremonial knives, or in a glass room displaying nothing but crystal skulls, and there’s a whole new level of … [Read more...] about John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum review – the art of action

Details released from a separate ONS survey of the social impact of coronavirus, meanwhile, reveal that almost one-third of people in Britain lived with someone who self-isolated because of the pandemic in April, the month in which Dominic Cummings drove his family 250 miles north from their home in London. … [Read more...] about Excess UK deaths in Covid-19 outbreak approach 60,000