Helen Brown

Sep 7, 2023 | msn.com | Helen Brown

“The first breath of adultery is the freest,” wrote John Updike. “After it, constraints aping marriage develop.” But the joke of Sky’s new infidelity sitcom, The Lovers (Sky Atlantic), is how it repeatedly thwarts its titular lovers as they attempt to take that first “breath”. The set-up is classic (for traditional romantics) or cheesy (for novelty-craving cynics) in which two very different people experience an intense and surprising mutual attraction.

Jul 29, 2023 | thespectator.com | Gavin Mortimer |Helen Brown |Fredrik Erixon |FoodCamari Mick

Emmanuel Macron broke his silence about the recent riots in France at the start of this week. In a speech in New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific, the president of the Republic declared that the country required a “return to authority at every level.”  He added: “The lesson I draw from this is order, order, order.”There was a certain irony to the president’s proclamation. He spoke as a crisis erupted in France, at the heart of which is a power struggle between the police and the justice system.