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‘Agnès Varda launched her revolt against femininity early. When she was ten, her mother took her to see 𝘚𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘋𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘧𝘴 at the Métropole cinema in Brussels. Varda hated it: “Why does she take care of these little ones all the time?”’
Lili Owen Rowlands:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘In 1942 horror films had been banned because of the depressing effect they might have on public morals and morale. After VE Day the ban was lifted, but even so newspapers condemned 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 for being dangerously scary.’
@malcolmgaskill.bsky.social on a classic:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Earlier Mrs Wren had appeared entirely joyful holding her husband’s hand in the outer corridor – yet how she wept inside of the courtroom, so much so that her face looked enamelled.
And this could all prove that Mr Wren is an admirable man.
A story by Diane Williams:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘We are living under a kind of house arrest, unable to go out, with an oppressive sense that an assault could occur at any moment.’
New from Luqman Saeed in Belfast:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...
‘Gold mines in Sudan, which have played an important role in financing the brutal civil war, are backed by money linked to the UAE and Russia. In Ethiopia, China is the biggest player.’
Claire Wilmot reports from Tigray.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘Perhaps Duchamp was aware of his own limitations, or maybe he realised that his true interests lay elsewhere, not in “retinal” painting (as he put it dismissively) but in cerebral art: he was primarily an ideas man.’
Hal Foster on the Marcel Duchamp retrospective.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘The juntas in Mali and Niger have ended the policy of engagement with Saharan communities, exacerbating the jihadist crisis in the region. “Terrorism” does not begin to describe the sense of generalised insecurity and imminent threat.’
Rahmane Idrissa on the Sahara.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Excellent discussion on democracy & the various things called "populism". Sharp questions from @piercepenniless.bsky.social & subtle & enlightening answers from @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social. Way past time to update my book: the politics of "the people" has changed so much!
www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...
Beneath the whimsy and the wit, Agnès Varda’s films were motivated by contradiction and critique. She said she was...
‘The neoliberalism of the Putin era has encouraged an entrepreneurial mindset, but most people in Russia, as anywhere, think of themselves as being driven by something deeper than acquisitiveness.’
Greg Afinogenov on what Russians want.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘There’s distance between Andy Burnham and the things that make people most angry, or despairing, about Starmer: his response to the Israeli slaughter in Gaza, his dalliance with Peter Mandelson.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on Burnham’s vision.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
