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Seventy-Two Virgins
''Seventy-Two Virgins: A Comedy of Errors'' is a 2004 novel by Boris Johnson. It received mixed reviews on original release. Plot The President of the United States plans to visit the Palace of Westminster. A Lebanese-born terrorist aims to assassinate him; Roger Barlow, a hapless, bicycle-riding, tousled-haired MP aims to foil the attack in order to distract from a scandal involving his financial entanglement in a lingerie shop named Eulalie. Reception ''Seventy-Two Virgins'' received mixed reviews on original release. David Smith, writing for ''The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...'', said "despite the pacy narration, there is a sense of going nowhere fast", but praised the humour, saying "Yet while Johnson is a heroic failure as a novelist, he score ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and as Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. Johnson has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015, having previously been MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008. Johnson attended Eton College, and studied Classics at Balliol College, Oxford. He was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1986. In 1989, he became the Brussels correspondent — and later political columnist — for ''The Daily Telegraph'', and from 1999 to 2005 was the editor of '' The Spectator''. Following his election to parliament in 2001 he was a shadow minister under Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron. In 2008, Johnson was elected mayor of London and resigned from the House of Common ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-French
Anti-French sentiment (Francophobia or Gallophobia) is fear or antagonism of France, the French people, French culture, the French government or the Francophonie (set of political entities that use French as an official language or whose French-speaking population is numerically or proportionally large). It has existed in various forms and in different countries for centuries. The phenomenon has been strongest in Britain and Germany, and was often expressed in literature and the popular medium. It also is a major factor in Canadian culture. By region Though French history in the broadest sense extends back more than a millennium, its political unity dates back from the reign of Louis XI, who set up the basis of a nation-state (rather than a dynastic, transnational entity typical of the Late Middle Ages). In the last days of the Ancien Régime, only aristocrats and scholars spoke French in much of the Kingdom of France, as about two-thirds of the population spoke a variety of l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main news ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Bennett (journalist)
Catherine Dorothea Bennett is a British journalist. Early life and education The elder daughter of Geoffrey Bennett, of Smelthouses, North Yorkshire, Bennett was educated at Lawnswood High School, Leeds, and Hertford College, Oxford. Career Bennett began her career in journalism at ''Honey'' magazine. Subsequently, she worked at ''The Sunday Telegraph'', ''The Mail on Sunday'', ''The Sunday Times'', ''The Times'' and the short-lived '' Sunday Correspondent'' newspaper before joining ''The Guardian'' around 1990. She joined ''The Observer'' at the beginning of 2008, where she continues to write columns on politics and culture, and at least two articles criticizing the peerage system and what she considers the still-extant privileges of the nobility. Catherine Bennett was on the Orwell Prize's Journalism shortlist for 2009. Personal life From 1985 to 1992, Bennett was married to Robert Sackville-West, who inherited the title of Baron Sackville on the death of his uncle in 2004 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2019 United Kingdom General Election
The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party receiving a Landslide victory, landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote – the highest percentage for any party since 1979 United Kingdom general election, 1979. Having failed to obtain a majority in the 2017 United Kingdom general election, 2017 general election, the Conservative Party had faced Parliamentary votes on Brexit, prolonged parliamentary deadlock over Brexit while it governed in minority government, minority with the Conservative–DUP agreement, support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This situation led to the resignation of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister, Theresa May, and the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election, selection of Boris Johnson as Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative leader and Prime M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021. History 1986 to 1990 Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330 It was produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition or light poetry, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. In some ways analogous to music hall from Victorian Britain, a typical North American vaudeville performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, ventriloquists, strongmen, female and male impersonators, acrobats, clowns, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Author Surrogate
As a literary technique, an author surrogate (also called an author avatar) is a fictional character based on the author. The author surrogate may be disguised, with a different name, or the author surrogate may be quite close to the author, with the same name. Some authors use author surrogates to express philosophical or political views in the narrative. Authors may also insert themselves under their own name into their works for humorous or surrealistic effect. Usage Fiction Frequently, the author surrogate is the same as the main character and/or the protagonist, and is also often the narrator. As an example, the author surrogate may be the one who delivers political diatribe, expressing the author's beliefs, or expound on the strengths and weaknesses of other characters, thereby communicating directly the author's opinion on the characters in question. Philosophers and writers may use author-surrogates to express their personal positions, especially if these are unpopular or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexist
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primarily to discrimination against women, and primarily affects women. See, for example: * Defines sexism as "prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex". * Defines sexism as "prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls". Notes that "sexism in a society is most commonly applied against women and girls. It functions to maintain patriarchy, or male domination, through ideological and material practices of individuals, collectives, and institutions that oppress women and girls on the basis of sex or gender." * Notes that Sexism' refers to a historically and globally pervasive form of oppression against women." * Notes that "sexism usually refers to prejudice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half-caste
Half-caste (an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures) is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent. It is derived from the term ''caste'', which comes from the Latin ''castus'', meaning pure, and the derivative Portuguese and Spanish word ''casta'', meaning race. Terms such as ''half-caste'', ''caste'', ''quarter-caste'' and ''mix-breed'' were used by colonial officials in the British Empire during their classification of indigenous populations, and in Australia used during the Australian government's pursuit of a policy of assimilation. In Latin America, the equivalent term for half-castes was ''Cholo'' and ''Zambo''. Use by region Australia In Australia, the term "half-caste", along with any other proportional representation of Aboriginality (such as "part-aborigine", "full-blood", "quarter-caste", "octoroon", "mulatto", or "hybrid") is generally used as a harmless descriptor but may be seen as highly offensive to some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pikey
''Pikey'' (; also spelled ''pikie'', ''pykie'' ) is a slang term, which is pejorative and considered by many to be a slur. It is used mainly in the UK to refer to people who are of the Traveller community, a set of ethno-cultural groups found primarily in Great Britain and Ireland. It is also used against Romanichal Travellers, Welsh Kale, Scottish Lowland Travellers, Scottish Highland Travellers, and Funfair Travellers. It is not well received among Irish Travellers or British Romany Travellers, as it is considered an ethnic slur. Etymology The term "pikey" is possibly derived from "pike" which, c. 1520, meant "highway" and is related to the words ''turnpike'' (toll road) and ''pikeman'' (toll collector). Another possible etymology is that it derives from the Old English verb ''pikka'' (meaning to peck, pick or steal) which became ''piken'' in Middle English, before falling out of use. Part of its meaning survives in modern Dutch ''pikken'', meaning to steal as well as in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mixed (United Kingdom Ethnicity Category)
Mixed is an ethnic group category that was first introduced by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics for the 2001 Census. Colloquially it refers to British citizens or residents whose parents are of two or more different races or ethnic backgrounds. The Mixed or Multiple ethnic group in England and Wales numbered 1.7 million in the 2021 census, 2.9% of the population. Statistics A number of academics have pointed out that the ethnicity classification employed in the census and other official statistics in the UK since 1991 involve confusion between the concepts of ethnicity and race. Aspinall notes that sustained academic attention has been focused on "how the censuses measure ethnicity, especially the use of dimensions that many claim have little to do with ethnicity, such as skin colour, race, and nationality". 2001 was the first census which asked about mixed race identity. In that census, 677,177 classified themselves as of mixed ethnicity, making up 1.2 pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
