On 13 March, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill which would ban the social-media app TikTok from the country unless it is no longer owned by a Chinese company. The legislation was rushed through in record time, although it is not certain it will be confirmed by the Senate. What risk does Congress … Continue reading “U.S. Congress Tries to Ban TikTok”
Red Nose Day is back on Friday 15 March in the UK. British charity Comic Relief has been encouraging people to don a clown’s red nose and “do something funny for money” since 1988. Red Nose Day is an occasion for many people across the country, and especially schools, to have a laugh while raising … Continue reading “Time to Put on a Red Nose”
Definitely not one to show your pupils! Wicked Little Letters is a delicious comedy with Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, set in a 1920s English seaside town, where the population starts receiving defamatory letters full of profanities. An Irish migrant with a good stock of swear words in her vocabulary, Rose Gooding is accused of … Continue reading “Rumours, Rumours”
2023 was the year “Barbenheimer” revived cinema attendance around the world. But despite leading the box office, Barbie received only one Oscar, for best song, while Oppenheimer dominated this years Awards, taking home seven statuettes. Oppenheimer took best picture, best director for Christopher Nolan, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. (amazingly his first … Continue reading “And the Oscar Goes to”
On International Women’s Day 2024, France is including the freedom to have an abortion in its constitution while Ireland is holding a referendum to remove clauses from its constitution which promise the Irish state will do everything it can to allow women to stay in the home. The Irish constitution was adopted in 1937, in … Continue reading “Irish Referendum on Women’s Role in Society”
Siegfried Sassoon was one of the most famous of the British World War I poets but unlike Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke or Edward Thomas, Sassoon survived the war he had despised while serving brilliantly. Terence Davies’ final film traces both the war service and the long life looking for meaning which followed, with Jack Lowden … Continue reading “Benediction: Siegfried Sassoon Biopic”
If you are born on 29 February, you can consider yourself very special… or very unlucky! The chances of being born on a leap day (the extra day we have every four years in leap years) are 1 in 1461. So, people born on that day are rare. But they also only have one “real” … Continue reading “Happy Leap Day!”
What are you planning for la Semaine des langues? This year’s edition is from 18 to 23 March and is on the theme of « L’important, c’est de communiquer ! », which we would happily adopt as our motto here at Speakeasy News. The event makes special reference to the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer … Continue reading “Ready for the Semaine des Langues?”
When humans have trouble walking, they can get help with orthopaedic shoes or prosthetics. What happens when an animal has a problem? San Diego Zoo in California fitted one of its penguins with customised shoes to help with a degenerative foot condition. Lucas, an African penguin, developed a chronic condition called bumblefoot, which occurs in … Continue reading “Happy Feet”
Most people would feel proud of saving hundreds of mainly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia just before the outbreak of World War II. But Sir Nicholas Winton was haunted by all the children he couldn’t save. Until a surprise 50 years later on a TV programme showed him all the good he had done. A new … Continue reading “Doing the Right Thing”