News
Leonard Cohen goes to the doctor: Ian Cookâs best photograph
I n 1979 Leonard Cohen was in London for a few days on a European tour and I had been assigned to photograph him by the US magazine People. I arrived at the Dorchester Hotel and was shown up to his room. He announced that he had picked up some sort of larynx infection on the plane and that he might not be able to perform. He said that he had an imminent appointment with a Harley Street... read more
âI pleaded for help. No one wrote backâ: the pain of watching my country fall to the Taliban
I n the weeks before Kabul fell, my mind was strangely calm. There is a moment just before the world falls apart, when human beings almost believe they can reverse the sequence of events that has brought them to this point â a flash of magical thinking in which they can will a different reality into existence. On 2 July, when the Americans left Bagram airbase, I woke up in... read more
Jessye Normanâs family sue over treatment that allegedly left her paralysed
She had a voice described as a âgrand mansion of soundâ, won four Grammy awards and thrilled audiences in the worldâs opera house â but suddenly stopped performing in 2015. When Jessye Norman died four years later at the age of 74, her family said she had passed away from septic shock and multi-organ failure secondary to complications of a spinal cord injury she had... read more
David Tennant to play poisoned former spy Alexander Litvinenko
David Tennant is to play the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in a four-part ITV series. The drama, Litvinenko, depicts how the former FSB officer was poisoned with the rare radioactive substance polonium-210 at the Millennium hotel in London in 2006. The 50-year-old Scotsman will take on the role of the former Russian spy, who was interviewed by police officers at his hospital... read more
Oxford Covid biotech firm makes stellar debut on London stock market
Oxford Nanopore, whose DNA sequencing technology has been essential in tracking Covid-19 variants globally, has made a stellar stock market debut in London. A rise in its share price of as much as 47% has left the firm valued at almost £5bn. The flotation of the Oxford University spin-out has given its chief executive and co-founder, Gordon Sanghera, a fortune on paper of £63m. Sanghera... read more
New guidelines for transgender participation unveiled by UK sports councils
Trans women retain physique, stamina and strength advantages when competing in female sport, even when they reduce their testosterone levels, new guidelines for transgender participation in national and grassroots sport published by the UK sports councils will say on Thursday. The long-awaited report argues there is no magic solution which balances the inclusion of trans women in female sport... read more