Expanding the Legacy
Fighting Jihadists with Music
In Mali, she is the grande dame of the country’s exceptionally rich music scene: Khaira Arby - aka The Nightingale of the North. Mrs Arby is celebrated throughout her country and the world. For many of her fans, she also embodies Mali’s irrepressible spirit. Her haunting rendition of traditional Tuareg songs brings tears of joy to audiences as she plucks at the chords of national remembrance with tales of salt mines and camel caravans to the sound of electric guitars and the ngoni, Mali’s traditional lute.
Clown of the Republic
The Paris king of comedy likes to make people wince - either in agony or in shock. His jokes and comments frequently unleash a firestorm on social media where the holier-than-thou brigade rules and expresses its faux-indignation in no uncertain terms. Yassine Belattar, a guy who revels in poking fun at both the establishment and established thought, has received numerous death threats - too many, in fact, to count.
Vlad’s Stooge or Russia’s Promise?
She never had any real chance of winning the Russian presidency and in the end only managed to obtain 1.53% of the vote - at least according to the official tally. Ksenia Sobchak did, however, manage to put issues on the agenda the Kremlin would prefer to ignore. She appeared on state-run national television to denounce the annexation of Crimea as an illegal act. Ms Sobchak also called for the legalisation of soft drugs and expressed strong support for the LGBTQ community - livening up the usually sycophantic news broadcasts.
Alfa Romeo: Driven by Emotion
Should Jeremy Clarkson actually like a car that is not a Volkswagen Golf, most readers would express disbelief. After all, the enfant terrible of automotive journalism is notoriously dismissive of most manufacturers’ effort at progress. Don’t get him started on French cars. The Germans, Mr Clarkson often contends, are very...
The Luxury Book: An Antidote to Digital Fatigue
Mass-market luxury publishing, not necessarily a contradiction in terms, contributes to the resilience of the paper book. In the UK, Penguin Books – the world’s largest publishing house and built on the now perhaps outdated premise that a good book should not cost more than a pack of cigarettes – regularly releases luxury clothbound editions of classic works of literature for as little as £14. With the price of a pack of smokes approaching the ten quid mark, the publisher has stayed remarkable true to its mission.
Quad: Timeless Value
At the high-end, product quality and diversity do not go hand-in-hand. There are only so many ways to audiophile Nirvana. When no corners are cut, the result may be akin to a straight line. As it happens, that is also the way an audio amplifier ideally operates – a straight...
SME: Engineering Perfection
Perfection is often the outcome of fortuitous circumstance – not necessarily of a carefully traced design process. That’s how a West Sussex precision engineering company ended up as the manufacturer of the world’s best tonearms – the mechanical contraption that guides the cartridge over a vinyl record. Formed in 1946...
Tannoy: At Home in Country Manors, Concert Halls, and on Racetracks
Whenever a brand becomes so ubiquitous that its name is turned into both a verb and noun, competitors cringe and turn blue with envy. And well they may: in business since 1926, Tannoy – manufacturer of loudspeakers – admits little to no competition. For decades on end, the company’s public...
Gibson: Guitar Legend on the Ropes
One of the three Kings of the Blues Guitar alongside Albert King and Freddie King, BB King was born under a good sign on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1925. Riley B King (1925-2015) acquired a taste for music in church and launched his career in local barrelhouses and on...
Keeping the European Union Honest
Dutch MEP (Member of European Parliament) Sophie in ‘t Veld believes that the freedom of every person to hold their own thoughts and opinions is a cornerstone of any democratic society - and, as such, sacrosanct. Her vision for Europe is based on the values of the Age of Enlightenment: she speaks up for democracy, transparency, and equality in the European Union. In these troubled times, a principled politician is to be admired and valued, especially one who works to hold the European Union and its institutions to account.
