Monthly Archives: January 2021

news, latest-news, anthony albanese, leadership, tanya plibersek, labor, alp, scott morrison, polling, jim chalmers

If Labor's MPs were dreaming of a magically brighter 2021, it hasn't taken long to come back to reality. At extended Christmas lunches and Boxing Day barbecues, talk would inevitably touch on COVID-19 and Trump, but Labor's woes were never far behind. "Will they stick with Anthony Albanese?" someone might ask - with the kicker, "Should they?" Implicit in such questions is an assumption about impending defeat. With governments dominating the political and economic spheres, these are not times for oppositions. The pandemic rages globally, and despite the development of several vaccine options, international borders will remain firmly closed - possibly into 2022, according to health authorities. And with conditions in the big employment sectors of education, tourism and hospitality still mired in uncertainty, additional targeted government largesse beyond the scheduled JobKeeper end date of March 28 seems certain. That's the power of incumbency. In the months before an expected spring poll, such spending will do the Coalition no harm. Way back in 1986, then-opposition leader John Howard confidently predicted that the times would suit him. But, in a sign of how passive oppositions ultimately are, Howard would first lose the leadership then wait another decade for his time to come. For Albanese, affairs are no more propitious. The penny is dropping within his caucus that the only thing standing between their current third term in opposition and a failure-cementing fourth is several long months of insisting otherwise. Albanese is well liked and respected for his unwavering service to both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, which made him almost unique. But few beyond the leader's office and his closest lieutenants think the NSW stalwart will eat into Scott Morrison's crisis-hardened majority. Not with a primary vote share stuck in the mid-30 per cent range. Many fear a backwards slide despite the Coalition's tin-eared climate denialism, embarrassing toadying towards Trump, ham-fisted management of the China relationship, and long list of ministerial scandals. Even the government's failure to bring stranded Australians home during the corona-crisis has brought little opprobrium. It was the same story last year with Morrison's ill-judged calls for people to head out to the football even while announcing the first tentative crowd bans. Ditto his sustained opposition to school closures and business shutdowns, state border controls, mask-wearing, local movement limits, and his late-March closure of incoming flights - particularly from the US - then the major overseas source of infection. In fact, outside the JobKeeper and JobSeeker spends, for which the Coalition received immediate opposition support, Morrison was either a handbrake or a late convert to measures since credited with driving Australia's infection rate towards zero. Even that goal was pilloried. So, the spin and the substance are some distance apart? That hardly makes Morrison unique. Simply deriding him as "Scotty from marketing" obscures an important political truth: marketing matters. MORE MARK KENNY: This unfashionable PM has proved to be better at the theatre of politics, as the scholar Dr Chris Wallace puts it, having successfully packaged up effective policy under his "national cabinet" brand. As Wallace observed in her 2020 book How to win an Election, "a leader who can do the substance and theatre of politics will beat a competitor who can only do the substance or theatre of politics every time". As an effective piece of political theatre, the national cabinet is pitch-perfect. States have gone along with it because it has served them well too. All three state and territory elections held since COVID-19 have seen incumbent governments returned. WA is next and will surely follow suit. The consensual body's allure is that it replaces politics with problem-solving - tailor-made for Morrison's carefully calibrated presentation as the reassuring non-ideologue, the "can-do" PM. And it has also been useful for facilitating the PM's strategic shimmy out of key federal responsibilities like aged care and the quarantine power, section 51 (IX) of the constitution. I don't run the hotel quarantine, mate. Of course, such cleverness is of limited comfort to the 39,000 Australians desperate to come home (overwhelmingly at their own expense, by the way) but who are barred by their national government's refusal to stand up an adequate quarantine facility. How good is Australian citizenship?! None of this, though, has boosted Labor, prompting discussion of dramatic action such as a switch to a Tanya Plibersek/Jim Chalmers ticket, as leader and deputy respectively. The configuration pairs Left and Right, female and male, NSW and Queensland, and finally, experience and youth. But it also offers the possibility - or is it just hope? - that the personable Plibersek could change the political dynamics, thus wrong-footing the blokey Morrison persona. "It's the zeitgeist," enthused one MP, arguing "there's a bit of [Jacinda] Ardern and a bit of Annastacia [Palaszczuk] about Tanya, and people will listen". "That's where we're failing at the moment; it's no reflection on Anthony, it's just that up against another grey-haired older bloke, people aren't excited enough to change sides". But is it practical? Rule changes forced through by Kevin Rudd certainly made it harder to topple a leader. But a simple caucus majority can rescind that rule - the same majority needed to install a new leader if the intent is there. Other considerations include the transaction costs measurable in voter distaste and internal enmities. Yet proponents say this is overstated, because opposition leaders, unlike PMs, have not enjoyed the perceived imprimatur of voters. The current situation is not unprecedented. In the chapter of her book focusing on the importance of match-ups, Wallace asks the question: "Is the strategy to win the election or hold onto the leadership?" As the 1983 election approached, senior Labor frontbencher John Button presented opposition leader Bill Hayden with a confronting choice. With Bob Hawke circling, Button assured Hayden of his vote in any ballot, but added his view that Hayden might want to consider resigning. Hayden did, and five weeks later Labor began a 13-year stint in power with Hawke at the helm. Could Albanese, perhaps the caucus's pre-eminent loyalist, be similarly persuaded? Not likely, but not unheard of either.

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OPINION

January 23 2021 - 5:26AM

If Labor's MPs were dreaming of a magically brighter 2021, it hasn't taken long to come back to reality.

At extended Christmas lunches and Boxing Day barbecues, talk would inevitably touch on COVID-19 and Trump, but Labor's woes were never far behind.

"Will they stick with Anthony Albanese?" someone might ask - with the kicker, "Should they?"

Implicit in such questions is an assumption about impending defeat.

With governments dominating the political and economic spheres, these are not times for oppositions.

The pandemic rages globally, and despite the development of several vaccine options, international borders will remain firmly closed - possibly into 2022, according to health authorities.

And with conditions in the big employment sectors of education, tourism and hospitality still mired in uncertainty, additional targeted government largesse beyond the scheduled JobKeeper end date of March 28 seems certain.

That's the power of incumbency. In the months before an expected spring poll, such spending will do the Coalition no harm.

Way back in 1986, then-opposition leader John Howard confidently predicted that the times would suit him.

But, in a sign of how passive oppositions ultimately are, Howard would first lose the leadership then wait another decade for his time to come.

For Albanese, affairs are no more propitious.

The penny is dropping within his caucus that the only thing standing between their current third term in opposition and a failure-cementing fourth is several long months of insisting otherwise.

Albanese is well liked and respected for his unwavering service to both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, which made him almost unique.

But few beyond the leader's office and his closest lieutenants think the NSW stalwart will eat into Scott Morrison's crisis-hardened majority.

Not with a primary vote share stuck in the mid-30 per cent range.

Many fear a backwards slide despite the Coalition's tin-eared climate denialism, embarrassing toadying towards Trump, ham-fisted management of the China relationship, and long list of ministerial scandals.

Even the government's failure to bring stranded Australians home during the corona-crisis has brought little opprobrium.

It was the same story last year with Morrison's ill-judged calls for people to head out to the football even while announcing the first tentative crowd bans.

Ditto his sustained opposition to school closures and business shutdowns, state border controls, mask-wearing, local movement limits, and his late-March closure of incoming flights - particularly from the US - then the major overseas source of infection.

In fact, outside the JobKeeper and JobSeeker spends, for which the Coalition received immediate opposition support, Morrison was either a handbrake or a late convert to measures since credited with driving Australia's infection rate towards zero. Even that goal was pilloried.

So, the spin and the substance are some distance apart? That hardly makes Morrison unique.

Simply deriding him as "Scotty from marketing" obscures an important political truth: marketing matters.

This unfashionable PM has proved to be better at the theatre of politics, as the scholar Dr Chris Wallace puts it, having successfully packaged up effective policy under his "national cabinet" brand.

As Wallace observed in her 2020 book How to win an Election, "a leader who can do the substance and theatre of politics will beat a competitor who can only do the substance or theatre of politics every time".

As an effective piece of political theatre, the national cabinet is pitch-perfect.

States have gone along with it because it has served them well too. All three state and territory elections held since COVID-19 have seen incumbent governments returned. WA is next and will surely follow suit.

The consensual body's allure is that it replaces politics with problem-solving - tailor-made for Morrison's carefully calibrated presentation as the reassuring non-ideologue, the "can-do" PM.

And it has also been useful for facilitating the PM's strategic shimmy out of key federal responsibilities like aged care and the quarantine power, section 51 (IX) of the constitution.

I don't run the hotel quarantine, mate.

Of course, such cleverness is of limited comfort to the 39,000 Australians desperate to come home (overwhelmingly at their own expense, by the way) but who are barred by their national government's refusal to stand up an adequate quarantine facility.

How good is Australian citizenship?!

None of this, though, has boosted Labor, prompting discussion of dramatic action such as a switch to a Tanya Plibersek/Jim Chalmers ticket, as leader and deputy respectively.

The configuration pairs Left and Right, female and male, NSW and Queensland, and finally, experience and youth.

But it also offers the possibility - or is it just hope? - that the personable Plibersek could change the political dynamics, thus wrong-footing the blokey Morrison persona.

Tanya Plibersek is the name being thrown around as a potential successor to Albanese. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

"It's the zeitgeist," enthused one MP, arguing "there's a bit of [Jacinda] Ardern and a bit of Annastacia [Palaszczuk] about Tanya, and people will listen".

"That's where we're failing at the moment; it's no reflection on Anthony, it's just that up against another grey-haired older bloke, people aren't excited enough to change sides".

Rule changes forced through by Kevin Rudd certainly made it harder to topple a leader. But a simple caucus majority can rescind that rule - the same majority needed to install a new leader if the intent is there.

Other considerations include the transaction costs measurable in voter distaste and internal enmities. Yet proponents say this is overstated, because opposition leaders, unlike PMs, have not enjoyed the perceived imprimatur of voters.

The current situation is not unprecedented.

In the chapter of her book focusing on the importance of match-ups, Wallace asks the question: "Is the strategy to win the election or hold onto the leadership?"

As the 1983 election approached, senior Labor frontbencher John Button presented opposition leader Bill Hayden with a confronting choice.

With Bob Hawke circling, Button assured Hayden of his vote in any ballot, but added his view that Hayden might want to consider resigning.

Hayden did, and five weeks later Labor began a 13-year stint in power with Hawke at the helm.

Could Albanese, perhaps the caucus's pre-eminent loyalist, be similarly persuaded?

Not likely, but not unheard of either.

Read more from the original source:

'It's the zeitgeist': Should Albo fall on his sword? - The Canberra Times

On Jan. 6, the white nationalist group Proud Boys assembled near the White House, bowed in prayer. Other supporters of President Donald Trump in combat gear or T-shirts saying God, guns and Trump milled about. Not long afterward, they stormed the Capitol building in an insurrection that left five people dead. Crosses, images of Trump as Jesus, and a banner reading Jesus 2020 appeared in the mob.

Violence is a long thread in American religious history. It goes back to the separatists landing in Massachusetts and the treatment of slaves brought to Virginia, the Salem witch trials, and the lynch mobs in the South that burned crosses.

Before the Gutenburg Bible put scripture into the hands of laymen, the Roman Catholic hierarchy controlled interpretation of Christian scriptures. The Protestant Reformation came about when Christians could read scripture themselves, and their varied understandings resulted in a wide spectrum of religious interpretations. Beliefs already held could be supported by texts or theories often taken out of context. This is called confirmation bias.

Once formed, such beliefs seem immune to evidence that would disprove them. Those who justified violence or cruelty with biblical references did so with certainty of their own righteousness.

Such was the case with slavery. Christians in the American South argued that biblical accounts of slavery in the Roman Empire and ancient Near East were never denounced as sinful. They also saw separation of ancient tribes as racial hierarchy, with whites at the top. Specific passages also pegged women and children as subordinate to men, and the obedience called for in the Bible required tolerance for violent acts. Pre-Civil War interpretation of biblically supported racial and gender inequality created schisms within Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian groups. Although they didnt subscribe to these interpretations, Northern evangelicals did little to stop them. Nor did emancipation.

But to paint all evangelicals with the same brush would be to deny history. The Second Great Awakening, which began in the 1820s, ushered in progressive evangelism which emphasized charity and moral conduct. The Black evangelicals, from whose churches spokesmen such as James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the late congressman John Lewis emerged, encouraged nonviolent action in service of justice and equality. They were disregarded by their white counterparts.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim posited that religion reflects, rather than shapes, the norms and values of a society. If this is so, backlash to the social, political and cultural upheavals of the late 1960s may explain the shift in evangelicals beliefs, away from a social gospel and toward alliances that created a political force that ultimately spawned todays subset of true believers: the Christian nationalist movement proclaiming itself to be the army of God.

Randall Balmer, professor of religion at Dartmouth College, said, Although abortion had emerged as a rallying cry by 1980, the real roots of the religious right lie not in the defense of a fetus, but in the defense of racial segregation.

Evangelical families educated their children in private, all-white schools, and kept them close to the church through the tumultuous Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests. But as these young people became adults, many moved away from the faith. Conservative church leaders needed a rallying cry to keep members in the fold. A 1969 lawsuit against an all-white Christian school in Holmes County, Mississippi, was settled in 1971, when Green v. Connally resulted in the decision to rescind tax exemptions for whites-only private schools.

Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, saw this as an issue that could tap into the belief that racial and gender hierarchies were biblically prescribed. In itself, this issue did not gain traction. When Bob Jones University lost its tax exemption in 1976, Weyrich and Jerry Falwell shifted the emphasis from race to religious freedom.

It was then that they attached their racial argument to another issue many congregants had ignored, or accepted quietly: abortion. Although in 1971, the South Bay Convention had come out in support of the Roe v. Wade court decision, opposition to abortion was pushed by the emergent Moral Majority, which made itself a political force during the Reagan years.

As the religious right became politicized, its views hardened. Not far below the surface, the old opposition to integration and racial justice made its way into legislatures and boardrooms. By their silence, moderate evangelicals enabled this rightward shift. The rapid growth of independent megachurches reinforced a move away from main line evangelical restraint.

It was only a matter of time before an opportunistic grifter came along to take advantage of a ready-made constituency. Donald J. Trump was never particularly religious. His reputation as a showman, womanizer, and shady real estate developer should have made him a non-starter for the 2015 Republican presidential nomination. But he saw how President Reagan had shifted his views to accommodate religious leaders, and made a similarly successful move. Promising morality and an anti-abortion Supreme Court, Trump took over the Republican Party and the country.

His rhetoric from the start appealed to those who saw violence as a reinforcement of the male-dominated white hierarchy that seemed to be slipping away since the 1960s, and his stance in favor of religious liberty and against abortion won the approval of a wider religious constituency. Again, the political zeitgeist determined their articles of faith. A relative posted on Facebook a scriptural passage she claimed predicted Trumps arrival as a God-given savior of immoral America. Such parsing of the Bible is common.

When flash-bangs, tear gas, and mounted police dispersed peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrators on June 1, 2020, the photo-op of President Trump, Bible in hand, was a signal to those who believe white supremacy to be a biblical given. His smirk told them, Im with you. As Ed Setzer of Wheaton College said in USA Today, The evangelical movement has failed to connect [its] mission to justice and politics.

Instead, its spawned Christian nationalism, which sees religious pluralism and social equality as satanic. With this view, attachment to conspiracy theories from the likes of QAnon came easily.

Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis says that the strange mix of religion, violence and politics seen at the Capitol must be understood through the lens of Christian nationalism, which preached Stop the Steal from pulpits after Trump lost the 2020 popular and electoral votes.

Not until the dangerous tangle of moral certitude, far-right militarism, and resistance to an evolving social order is unraveled will conspiracy theories and racial division lose their appeal to churchgoers, even those who never intend to take to the streets with long guns.

As long as their tacit approval allows disruption of civic life in America, they will hear inciting messages from the pulpit. That, I believe, is reason for a long look at the threat they pose, and reconsideration of their tax exempt status.

More:

My Turn: Jan. 6 and the path of Christian nationalism - Concord Monitor

Netflixs Bridgerton," COVID-19, prints from the 1970s and climate change may seem unrelated, but they all have at least one thing in common fashion.

As people hone in on their New Years resolutions, fashion designers, retailers, students and scholars are at work predicting what trends will define 2021. While no one can predict the future, plenty of people have already started forecasting fashion trends for this year.

Monica Sklar, a fashion professor at the University of Georgia, said trends start when influential communities such as schools, subcultures or social media groups initiate a new style. Trends dont always take off in order to, they need to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist, she said.

The whole idea of [the zeitgeist] is, What's the cultural view of the time? and What's happening right now that everybody's feeling it in their gut ... in the way that they live their lives ... in their actions day-to-day? Sklar said.

Once a trend is determined, some styles can prove to be influential throughout the ages.

Loretta Paluck, owner of Dynamite Clothing, said in an email that trends from the 1990s like oversized t-shirts, sweatshirts and vintage denim were popular in 2020. She expects the popularity of 90s apparel to continue into the new year with a mix of personality and splash of individuality, she said.

While styles from previous decades can help dictate the fashion status quo, current events also have an undeniable impact on whats trending. Mentally revisiting some 2020 events might be undesirable, but COVID-19, political and economic uncertainty and the Black Lives Matter movement all had a significant impact on the fashion industry last year.

Bridget Helms, senior fashion merchandising major and the president of the Student Merchandising Association, said she noticed the impacts of the pandemic in 2020 trends, such as athleisure and sweatsuits.

In agreement, Helen Majano, senior fashion merchandising major and the head stylist for the Student Merchandising Association, said athleisure paired with Zoom tops an extravagant top paired with sweatpants or leggings had its moment in 2020.

Pop culture can also impact the fashion world. Bridgerton, the Jane Austen meets Gossip Girl Netflix series, has been causing a stir in the words of entertainment and fashion. Helms recently finished the series, and she thinks it will have a significant impact on the trends in the new year.

I've seen a huge following of [Bridgerton] and people wanting to bring corsets back, and its actually on the list for new trends, Helms said.

Helms said in addition to corsets, she expects to see other lingerie-style tops styled over white button-down shirts and dresses in 2021. Other trends like white knee-high boots, pastel colors and bold prints will also be in this year, she said.

In fashion, the pendulum swings from dress-up moments to dress-down moments, Sklar said. Prior to the pandemic, fashion was in a dress-down moment, which helped make the transition to lockdown and working from home easier, she said. After the pandemic, some wonder if fashion will enter a dress-up moment.

Majano predicts that 2021 will bring extravagant trends such as big coats, fringe, exaggerated silhouettes and disco styles. Helms also said that she thinks people might become bolder with their styles after getting to leave the house more in 2021.

People are bored in the house and getting creative. They're putting together outfits that they never would have just to make a statement because now your outfit really shows your personality, Helms said.

The environmental impact of fast fashion will also play a role in shaping the fashion industry this year, as consumers choose to shop local, shop small and shop secondhand for clothing.

Sustainable fashion brands like Paloma Wool and House of Sunny have been on the rise, Majano said. Additionally, Helms said shes been noticing smaller businesses, such as Etsy shops, gain popularity as they use social media like TikTok to promote their designs.

Vintage shopping also continues to be a popular way of buying clothes sustainably. Paluck said in the last year shes noticed her customers become more aware of the importance of sustainable fashion. In addition to being more sustainable than fast-fashion, vintage shopping allows customers to find one-of-a-kind pieces as opposed to cookie-cutter fashion, she said.

Read more here:

UGA and Athens community discuss what's next in fashion - Red and Black

PLEASE NOTE: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter's awards columnist Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and awards strategists, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars, and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.

*BEST PICTURE*

FrontrunnersNomadland (Searchlight)The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)Promising Young Woman (Focus)Minari (A24)Sound of Metal (Amazon)One Night in Miami (Amazon)Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix)Mank (Netflix)Soul (Pixar)Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)

Major Threats The Father (Sony Classics)News of the World (Universal)Tenet (Warner Bros.) Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros.)

PossibilitiesBorat Subsequent Moviefilm (Amazon)The Midnight Sky (Netflix)The Way Back (Warner Bros.)Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)

Long Shots Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus)Palm Springs (Hulu/Neon)The Invisible Man (Universal)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Another Round (Samuel Goldwyn Films)Cherry (Apple TV+)Let Him Go (Focus)The Little Things (Warner Bros.)The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount)

*BEST DIRECTOR*

FrontrunnersChlo Zhao (Nomadland)Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastEmerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)Darius Marder (Sound of Metal)

Major ThreatsRegina King (One Night in Miami) podcastDavid Fincher (Mank)Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) podcast

Possibilities Paul Greengrass (News of the World)Christopher Nolan (Tenet)George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Long ShotsFlorian Zeller (The Father)Pete Docter & Kemp Powers (Soul)George Clooney (The Midnight Sky) podcast

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Heidi Ewing (I Carry You With Me)John Lee Hancock (The Little Things)Anthony Russo & Joe Russo (Cherry)Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round)

*BEST ACTOR*

FrontrunnersChadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) podcastRiz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) podcastDelroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) podcastAnthony Hopkins (The Father)Ben Affleck (The Way Back) podcast

Major ThreatsSteven Yeun (Minari) podcastGary Oldman (Mank)Tom Hanks (News of the World) podcast [one and two]John David Washington (Malcolm & Marie)

PossibilitiesSacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) podcastKingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami)Eli Goree (One Night in Miami)

Long ShotsLaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)George Clooney (The Midnight Sky) podcastTahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Kevin Costner (Let Him Go)Tom Holland (Cherry)Jude Law (The Nest)John Magaro (First Cow)Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round)Trevante Rhodes (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Justin Timberlake (Palmer)Denzel Washington (The Little Things) podcast

*BEST ACTRESS*

FrontrunnersFrances McDormand (Nomadland)Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman) podcastViola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)Sophia Loren (The Life Ahead) podcastZendaya (Malcolm & Marie)

Major ThreatsVanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)Meryl Streep (The Prom) podcastMeryl Streep (Let Them All Talk) podcastYeri Han (Minari)

PossibilitiesSidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)Kate Winslet (Ammonite) podcast [one and two]Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit) podcast

Long ShotsRachel Brosnahan (I'm Your Woman) podcastElisabeth Moss (The Invisible Man) podcastJulia Garner (The Assistant) podcast

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Nicole Beharie (Miss Juneteenth)Haley Bennett (Swallow)Carrie Coon (The Nest)Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Clare Dunne (Herself)Diane Lane (Let Him Go)Rosamund Pike (I Care a Lot)Eliza Scanlen (Babyteeth)Robin Wright (Land)

*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR*

FrontrunnersChadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods) podcastSacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastLeslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami) podcastPaul Raci (Sound of Metal)Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)

Major ThreatsDavid Strathairn (Nomadland)Mark Rylance (The Trial of the Chicago 7)Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Trial of the Chicago 7)Frank Langella (The Trial of the Chicago 7)

Possibilities Aldis Hodge (One Night in Miami)Bo Burnham (Promising Young Woman) podcastBill Murray (On the Rocks)

Long Shots Will Patton (Minari)Eddie Redmayne (The Trial of the Chicago 7) podcastGlynn Turman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Demian Bichir (Land)Jared Leto (The Little Things)Rami Malek (The Little Things) podcastStanley Tucci (Supernova)

*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS*

FrontrunnersMaria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)Amanda Seyfried (Mank) podcastOlivia Cooke (Sound of Metal)Ellen Burstyn (Pieces of a Woman)

Major ThreatsOlivia Colman (The Father) podcastJodie Foster (The Mauritanian)Candice Bergen (Let Them All Talk)

PossibilitiesHelena Zengel (News of the World)Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah)Saoirse Ronan (Ammonite) podcast

Long ShotsGlenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy) podcastTalia Ryder (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Ciara Bravo (Cherry)Vanessa Kirby (The World to Come)Natasha Lyonne (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)

*BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY*

FrontrunnersNomadland (Chlo Zhao)One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers)The Father (Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller)Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Ruben Santiago-Hudson)News of the World (Luke Davies & Paul Greengrass)

Major ThreatsThe Life Ahead (Edoardo Ponti)I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman) podcastThe Midnight Sky (Mark L. Smith)

PossibilitiesBorat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jena Friedman, Anthony Hines, Lee Kern, Dan Mazer, Erica Rivinoja & Dan Swimer) podcast [Cohen]The Personal History of David Copperfield (Armando Iannucci)

Long ShotsShirley (Sarah Gibbons)Emma. (Eleanor Catton)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Cherry (Jessica Goldberg & Angela Russo-Otstot)First Cow (Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt)Let Him Go (Thomas Bezucha)The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Suzan-Lori Parks)The World to Come (Ron Hansen & Jim Shepard)

*BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY*

FrontrunnersThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin) podcastPromising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell)Minari (Lee Isaac Chung)Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance, Abraham Marder & Darius Marder)Soul (Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers)

Major ThreatsMank (Jack Fincher)Da 5 Bloods (Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee) podcast [Lee]Malcolm & Marie (Sam Levinson)The Forty-Year-Old Version (Radha Blank)

PossibilitiesJudas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson, Shaka King, Keith Lucas & Kenny Lucas)Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman)Palm Springs (Andy Siara) On the Rocks (Sofia Coppola)

Long ShotsI'm Your Woman (Julia Hart & Jordan Horowitz)Ammonite (Francis Lee)Tenet (Christopher Nolan)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)Herself (Malcolm Campbell & Clare Dunne)Land (Jesse Chatham & Erin Dignam)The Little Things (John Lee Hancock)Miss Juneteenth (Channing Godfrey Peoples)

*BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE*

FrontrunnersCrip Camp (Netflix)Time (Amazon)Collective (Magnolia/Participant)Welcome to Chechnya (HBO)The Truffle Hunters (Sony Classics)

Rest of ShortlistDick Johnson Is Dead (Netflix)The Dissident (Briarcliff) podcast [Bryan Fogel]MLK/FBI (IFC)City Hall (Zipporah) podcast [Frederick Wiseman]Boys State (Apple)On the Record (HBO Max)The Social Dilemma (Netflix)My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)The Mole Agent (Gravitas)Notturno (Super LTD)

PossibilitiesThe Way I See It (Focus)Acasa, My Home (Kino Lorber/Zeitgeist)John Lewis: Good Trouble (Magnolia/Participant)Totally Under Control (Neon) podcast [Alex Gibney]All In: The Fight for Democracy (Amazon)The Human Factor (Sony Classics)I Am Greta (Hulu)Kingdom of Silence (Showtime)The Fight (Magnolia/Topic)Athlete A (Netflix)Rebuilding Paradise (Nat Geo) podcast [Ron Howard]

Long ShotsBe Water (ESPN) Giving Voice (Netflix)I Am Not Alone (self-distributed)Searching for Mr. Rugoff (still seeking U.S. distribution)Miss Americana (Netflix)Kiss the Ground (self-distributed)Dear Mr. Brody (still seeking U.S. distribution)Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (Zeitgeist)Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (Netflix) podcast [Cristina Costantini]A Secret Love (Netflix)Circus of Books (Netflix)

Still to See or Embargoed (alphabetically)40 Years a Prisoner (HBO)76 Days (MTV)Apocalypse '45 (Discovery)Assassins (Greenwich)Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (still seeking U.S. distribution)Beautiful Something Left Behind (MTV)Belly of the Beast (PBS)Belushi (Showtime)Coded Bias (PBS Independent Lens)Crock of Gold (Magnolia)The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)Desert One (Greenwich)Disclosure (Netflix)The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (still seeking U.S. distribution)Father Soldier Son (Netflix)Feels Good Man (Wavelength Productions/PBS Independent Lens)Finding Yingying (MTV)Fireball: Visitor from Darker Worlds (Apple TV+)The Forbidden Reel (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Go-Go's (Showtime)Gunda (Neon)I Walk on Water (Grasshopper)Mayor (Film Movement)Me and the Cult Leader (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Metamorphosis of Birds (still seeking U.S. distribution)A Most Beautiful Thing (still seeking U.S. distribution)Mr. SOUL! (self-distributed)My Psychedelic Love Story (Showtime)Napoli Eden (still seeking U.S. distribution)Nasrin (Virgil Films & Entertainment)Olympia (still seeking U.S. distribution)Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Topic)The Painter and the Thief (Neon)The Reason I Jump (Kino Lorber)Reunited (still seeking U.S. distribution)Rewind (Grizzly Creek)Rising Phoenix (Netflix)Softie (Icarus)Stars and Strife (Virgil Films & Entertainment)The State of Texas vs. Melissa (Filmrise)Stray (Magnolia)A Thousand Cuts (PBS)'Til Kingdom Come (Abramorama)To See You Again (still seeking U.S. distribution)Transhood (HBO)Unapologetic (still seeking U.S. distribution)The Viewing Booth (Roco)Vivos (still seeking U.S. distribution)Wild Daze (Cinedigm)Wintopia (still seeking U.S. distribution)With Drawn Arms (Starz)Zappa (Magnolia)

*BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE*

FrontrunnersAnother Round (Denmark)Collective (Romania)I'm No Longer Here (Mexico)Two of Us (France)Dear Comrades! (Russia)

Rest of ShortlistNight of the Kings (Ivory Coast)My Little Sister (Switzerland)Apples (Greece)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina)Charlatan (Czech Republic)Notturno (Italy)La Llorona (Guatemala)A Sun (Taiwan)The Mole Agent (Chile)Sun Children (Iran)

Other Official Submissions (alphabetical)14 Days, 12 Nights (Canada)Agnes Joy (Iceland)And Tomorrow the Entire World (Germany)Arracht (Ireland)Asia (Israel)Atlantis (Ukraine)The Auschwitz Report (Slovakia)Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Brazil)Beginning (Georgia)Better Days (Hong Kong)Blizzard of Souls (Latvia)Broken Keys (Lebanon)Bulado (Netherlands)Causa Justa (Panama)Charter (Sweden)The Crying Steppe (Kazakhstan)Dara of Jasenovac (Serbia)Emptiness (Ecuador)The Endless Trench (Spain)Exile (Kosovo)Extracurricular (Croatia)The Father (Bulgaria)Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine)Heliopolis (Algeria)Hope (Norway)Impetigore (Indonesia)Jallikattu (India)Land of Ashes (Costa Rica)The Last Ones (Estonia)Leap (China)The Letter (Kenya)Lunana a Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)The Man Standing Next (South Korea)The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia)Mindanao (Philippines)Miracle in Cell No. 7 (Turkey)Nafi's Father (Senegal)Never Gonna Snow Again (Poland)Nova Lituania (Lithuania)Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (Venezuela)Open Door (Albania)Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)River Tales (Luxembourg)Roh (Malaysia)The Sleepwalkers (Argentina)Song Without a Name (Peru)Songs of Solomon (Armenia)Stories From the Chestnut Woods (Slovenia)This Is Not a Burial (Lesotho)Tove (Finland)True Mothers (Japan)Vitalina Varela (Portugal)What We Wanted (Austria)Willow (North Macedonia)Working Girls (Belgium)You Will Die at 20 (Sudan)

Continue reading here:

Feinberg Forecast: The Lay of the Land a Week Before Oscar Shortlist Voting - Hollywood Reporter

Plundered treasures, Zen-like spaces and inspiring women artists our selection of this years must-have titles

During the 1970s, Donna Stein a former curator at MoMA in New York served as art adviser to the Empress of Iran, guiding her selection of paintings and sculptures for the new Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Opened in 1977, it housed masterpieces by Van Gogh, Hockney, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Giacometti, Degas, Renoir, Gauguin, Moore, Magritte, Picasso, Warhol and more.

But the following year saw the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution, and since then the collection has been hidden away in vaults, barely seen by the public.

Today, its said to be the most important collection of modern art outside Europe and the United States, and worth several billion dollars. The Empress and I recounts Steins time spent building the collection, citing previously confidential correspondence with artists and dealers, while exploring the bond she formed with the Empress over a shared passion for art.

It has been said that Carlo Scarpas death caused by falling down a flight of concrete stairs in Japan was a poetic end to the life of an architect whose practice fused the grandiosity of his native Venice with the clean, modern lines of Japanese design.

RizzolisCarlo Scarpa: Beyond Matter(published 23 March)features new photographs by Lorenzo Pennati of Scarpas major projects in Venice, Verona, Bologna and the Dolomites, and pays special attention to the minute details of material, shape and light that he obsessed over in order to achieve his Zen-inspired visions. The volume has a postscript written by the architects son, Tobia Scarpa, who is in the process of designing the Scarpa Museum in Treviso.

The list of male artists for whom Isabel Rawsthorne modelled is almost a Whos Who of 20th-century art Jacob Epstein, Andr Derain,Picasso,GiacomettiandFrancis Baconamong them.

Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawsthorne, by Carol Jacobi.The Estate of Francis Bacon Publishing, supported by Francis Bacon MB Art FoundationMonaco, in association with Thames & Hudson

She was married three times, counted Ian Fleming and Dylan Thomas as friends, and created black propaganda for the British government in the Second World War. She may also have been a spy. In Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawthorne (published 18 February), Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art at Tate Britain, will cover all of those bases but also remind us of Rawsthorne the artist, in which capacity she had a long and productive career.

In 1797 Napoleons invading troops ripped Veroneses masterpiece, The Wedding Feast at Cana, off the refectory wall at the San Giorgio monastery. It was one of many paintings taken as spoils of war from Venice back to Paris.

As the French army cut a swathe through Europe, North Africa and the Levant, it continued to confiscate its enemies finest artworks and artefacts. Using the Veronese as a jumping-off point, Cynthia Saltzman investigates Napoleons Plunder(published 13 May), and how it helped turn the Louvre into both the greatest museum in the world and a monument to the emperors power.

Until the 20th century, women were largely ignored by European art history; even in the modern era, they had to fight to be taken seriously. One thing they were able to do was to sit down at an easel, pick up a mirror and paint themselves which is precisely what Catharina van Hemessen did in 1548, aged only 20.

She was the first artist of any gender to paint a self-portrait at the easel, says Jennifer Higgie, an art critic and author who also presents the Bow Down podcast on women in art history. In The Mirror and the Palette (published 18 March) she celebrates 20 women artists Artemisia Gentileschi, Elisabeth-Louise Vige Le Brun, Los Mailou-Jones and Amrita Sher-Gil among them who defied the odds and broke taboos to present themselves, and their female perspective on the times they lived in, to the world.

Professor Jonathan Petropolous has spent his career engaging with the apparent paradox that Nazi leaders could perform acts of sheer barbarism yet still see themselves as men of culture. Grings Man in Paris (published 26 January) is a biography of Bruno Lohse (1911-2007), Hermann Grings art agent in Paris during much of the Second World War.

Bruno Lohse (second from right) leads Gring on a tour to select works of seized art with ERR Paris chiefvon Behr (second from left). (Bruno Lohse papers, authors collection)

The job entailed overseeing the systematic theft of thousands of artworks, largely from French Jews, and dispatching them to Germany, where Reichsmarschall Gring amassed an enormous personal collection. Lohse, who testified at the Nuremberg trials after the war and escaped conviction, was interviewed by Petropolous a number of times towards the end of his life.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has been a leader in micromechanics since 1844, when its founder, Antoine LeCoultre, invented a machine for measuring a thousandth of a millimetre. But the Swiss company is best known for the Reverso, a beautifully simple yet highly functional wristwatch with a case that flips to protect the delicate crystal, dial and movement within.

Created in 1931 for polo players, the elegant, rectangular Art Deco design captured the zeitgeist, and has continued to do so through more than 500 calibers, several hundred dials and a flipside variously decorated with enamel, engravings or gemstones indeed, the Duoface model turned the original into a two-time-zone watch.

Jaeger-LeCoultre: Reverso (published 12 February) marks the 90th birthday of the iconic timepiece, tracing its history through archive images and photography, with text by the historian, journalist and horological specialist Nick Foulkes.

The American Modernist architect Louis Kahn is best remembered as a maestro of light, an interest he claimed to have developed upon realising that the void between the columns of a Greek temple was just as significant as the space the columns filled. He brought this approach to more than 20 buildings, including Erdman Hall at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut.

For The Essential Louis Kahn(published 1 April), the architectural photographer Cemal Emden has shot 280 images covering each project inside and out, focusing her lens on Kahns juxtaposition of materials, repetitions of lines, and preoccupation with light as well as capturing the way in which his designs succeed whether in religious, governmental, educational or residential settings.

A timely contribution to the debate on cultural restitution, Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes charts the story of the contested group of around 900 sculptures from the historic kingdom of Benin now held in the collection of the British Museum in London.

Phillips looks at everything from their creation beginning in the 16th century and their removal by the British in 1897, to their widely contested future, tapping a variety of sources and voices for insight into the controversy, among them the bronze casters of Benin City, museum directors and government officials.

Benin cockerel (from Antiquities from the City of Benin and from Other Parts of WestAfrica in the British Museum by Charles Read and Ormonde Dalton, 1899)

Rooted in fact, Loot addresses important questions about empire and the meaning of art, civilisation and culture, as the critic Clive Myrie aptly puts it. Phillipss succinct narrative also makes this a thrilling page-turner.

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With the world in and out of lockdown, the future of museums has never been so widely debated. As if on cue, The Art Museum in Modern Times (published 13 April), by renowned museum director Charles Saumarez Smith, considers the ways in which art museums have evolved over the past 80 years and what their future holds.

For this survey Saumarez Smith visited museums around the world, from MoMA in New York and Tate in London to the West Bund Museum in Shanghai, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Benesse House Museum on the Japanese island of Naoshima. He considers not only how architecture, innovation and funding have shaped the experience of art, but also the reasons behind the publics shifting attitudes towards visiting museums. Beautifully illustrated and filled with personal insights, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

In 1964, the Texan oil baron John de Menil and his art collector wife Dominique commissioned the abstract artist Mark Rothko to create a cycle of paintings for a chapel they were building in Houston, Texas. The artist set to work, mocking up a life-size model of the space in his Manhattan studio on East 69thStreet. He painted 14 colossal canvases that he hoped would be his answer to the Renaissance frescoes he had admired on his trips to Italy.

Tragically Rothko never saw the paintings in situ, committing suicide a year before the chapel was completed in 1971. Now, on the 50thanniversary of the buildings opening, Rizzoli has published this comprehensive guide to Rothkos final creation, which historians have described as an overwhelming synthesis of art and architecture. Rothko Chapel: An Oasis for Reflection (published 2 March) also features an introduction from the artists son, Christopher.

Numerous art historians have tried to pin down the enigma of Francis Bacon, searching for clues in the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, how he came to terms with his homosexuality, as well as his debilitating asthma. Bacon himself rarely spoke about his art, for fear that his words would distract from his work.

Mark Stevens and his wife Annalyn Swan who shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for de Kooning: An American Master are the latest to have attempted the challenge, spending more than a decade researching their subject. The result of their dedication, Revelations (published 21 January), is a widely praised portrayal of a man who was both serious and loving, but as warped as his art. It has set a new benchmark for his biographers.

Read more:

Hot off the press what to read in 2021 - Christie's

As a 25th anniversary edition of Bridget Jones's Diary is published, authors and broadcasters reflect on their connection with the famous heroine.

Love her or loathe her, Bridget Jones is here to stay.

Fans of, and newcomers to, the 30-something chardonnay-swilling singleton can shortly bag a 25th anniversary edition of Bridget Jones's Diary, with added extracts from author Helen Fielding's early journalism and musings about Bridget Jones in the 21st century.

Millions of copies of the original, based on Jane Austen's novel Pride And Prejudice and evolved from Fielding's columns in The Independent newspaper, have been sold globally, spawning three further books and three film adaptations starring Renee Zellweger as Bridget and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy.

In the new book, Fielding explains: "Sometimes people claim that Bridget was the godmother of chick lit. But the truth is it wasn't just Bridget or me, it was zeitgeist. The fictional representation of single women had not caught up with reality."

Picture of Renee Zellweger. See PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones.

So, do other authors feel that Jones is still relevant 25 years on?

'Daniel Cleavers are still in great abundance'

Author and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup reckons Bridget Jones's Diary is as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.

"It was a revolutionary text when it first came out. For anyone who was a young woman in the Nineties, it's like having a book equivalent of the soundtrack to your life, summing up the singleton lifestyle that so many of us were living," says Frostrup, author of Desire: 100 of Literature's Sexiest Stories. "There's nothing in this book, including her many attempts at creating the perfect relationship, that isn't relevant today.

"Much as we talk the talk, I don't think the world has changed dramatically on the romantic front, or in terms of people aspiring to find the right partner. And I think Daniel Cleavers are in great abundance. I don't really see what would be out of date in the book, apart from the smoking.

"It's such a relief to read about someone real rather than a prototype of what we think humanity should be like. If every single book about a woman was some prototype feminist saying all the right things and behaving in an absolutely admirable and militantly feminist way, it would be a dreary world."

She continues: "Increasingly, in these rather intolerant times, I think it's very good for us to be familiar with human foibles rather than constantly seeking human perfection.

"Bridget Jones's Diary is a totally timeless book. It's about all of the things that human beings will always aspire to: a connection with others, to find someone to love you, to find someone you can love back and to be the best person you can possibly be while at the same time recognising that we are all deeply flawed."

Picture of (left to right) Colin Firth, Helen Fielding, Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant. See PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones.

'Bridget was my work buddy'

Alexandra Heminsley was a junior press officer at Picador when a young woman called Bridget arrived for two weeks' work experience in 2000. Little did she know it was actually Renee Zellweger who was there to research the part of her alter ego.

"A smiley blonde woman who had a very posh accent and was quite amenable about helping out seemed completely normal," recalls Heminsley, bestselling author of Some Body To Love.

"Only the publicity director knew who she was. I'm sure she had quite a laugh watching me try to befriend Renee.

"We sat on opposite sides of the partition, so if I stood up I could see her desk. The phones diverted to me and to her. There was no social media then, you had to answer the phone. After two or three days, I started to hear her say, 'Hello, publicity,' just like me, and I wondered if she was taking the mickey.

"After she'd left, she wrote me a letter to thank me for looking after her, so I didn't feel like I'd been taken for a fool - and I had a laugh with my boss about it."

Heminsley continues: "The whole pressure around body image and counting and quantifying yourself the way those diary entries open with all the statistics, is definitely still relevant and is fuelled by social media.

"You can get your digital calorie counter and your Apple watch counting your steps. She would be counting so much more in those diary entries now, the likes, the steps..."

'People are still sleeping with their bosses and massively regretting it'

Picture of Renee Zellweger. See PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones. Picture credit should read: Ian West/PA. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones.

Vogue columnist Nell Frizzell, whose new book The Panic Years explores womanhood and motherhood, recalls that when Bridget Jones's Diary was first published in 1996, she was 12 and her mother wouldn't let her read it.

"She just wanted to protect me from the archetype of the neurotic self-hating woman. In a funny way that was a real feminist act on my mum's part. She knew I had enough baggage about my weight and my looks and didn't want me to have that exacerbated by the book.

"But I look back at Bridget Jones and the 'Smug Marrieds' and her feelings of being out of sync with so many people around her and of running out of time, and I completely understand. Bridget Jones is still really relatable because unfortunately, we have not changed the way men think about commitment and fertility, and therefore women are [often] still expected to do that heavy lifting on their own."

In terms of the workplace sexual harassment Jones puts up with, Frizzell says: "The #MeToo movement has shown that stuff is still happening in quite a lot of industries which we think of as aspirational and glamorous - film, TV, theatre. The way it's handled in the book and films, in a Carry On, bum-pinching, cleavage-ogling way, is now more uncomfortable with an audience.

"But a lot of people are still sleeping with their bosses and massively regretting it."

Book Cover Handout of Bridget Jones's Diary: 25th Anniversary Edition by Helen Fielding. See PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones. Picture credit should read: Picador/PA. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Bridget Jones.

'My daughter would find her terribly dated'

Bestselling novelist Fiona Gibson, whose new book The Dog Share is out in March, reflects: "Recently, I dipped back into the book which grew out of those columns, expecting it to be horribly dated. It is dated, of course; sexism abounds, Bridget tolerates it and believes her life is incomplete until she meets Mr Right.

"But so much of Bridget still resonates today - like that feeling that she must better herself and be a proper grown up. Back then it seems almost quaint that, in her world, this amounted to calorie counting while trying - and failing catastrophically - to limit her consumption of cigarettes and booze.

"Pre-Botox, fillers, Instagram and the Kardashian-influenced contouring make-up that grew from it, there's an innocence about Bridget's yearnings to be a better woman.

"My daughter, who's 20, would find her terribly dated. But her peer group is familiar with loneliness and finding solace and joy in the company of friends. I think we'll always warm to the idea of a young woman bumbling through life, cocking up regularly, making us feel better about our own screw-ups."

'I wish we could laugh at ourselves more'

Daisy Buchanan, host of You're Booked - a podcast dedicated to reading - whose debut novel Insatiable is published in February, read the books as a teenager. "I think it's relevant today. What's really sad is that we've become a lot more earnest and I wish we could learn to laugh at ourselves a little more.

"I think in this day and age the single Bridget would have Tinder binges with diary entries like: 'Must find sensible, functional man and not look at Tinder because it's all a disaster' and the next day would write: 'Hungover. Frantically swiping.'"

Bridget Jones's Diary (And Other Writing): 25th Anniversary Edition by Helen Fielding is published by Picador, priced 14.99. Available February 4.

Read the rest here:

Is Bridget Jones still relevant 25 years on? | News and Star - News & Star

Arts and CultureBooksLove her or loathe her, Bridget Jones is here to stay. Fans of and newcomers to the 30-something chardonnay-swilling singleton can shortly bag a 25th anniversary edition of Bridget Joness Diary, with added extracts from author Helen Fieldings early journalism and musings about Bridget Jones in the 21st century.

Thursday, 21st January 2021, 7:00 am

Millions of copies of the original, based on Jane Austens novel Pride And Prejudice and evolved from Fieldings columns in The Independent newspaper, have been sold globally, spawning three further books and three film adaptations starring Rene Zellweger as Bridget and Colin Firth as Mark Darcy.

In the new book, Fielding explains: Sometimes people claim that Bridget was the godmother of chick lit. But the truth is it wasnt just Bridget or me, it was zeitgeist. The fictional representation of single women had not caught up with reality.

So, do other authors feel that Jones is still relevant 25 years on?

Daniel Cleavers are still in great abundance

Author and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup reckons Bridget Joness Diary is as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.

It was a revolutionary text when it first came out. For anyone who was a young woman in the Nineties, its like having a book equivalent of the soundtrack to your life, summing up the singleton lifestyle that so many of us were living, says Frostrup, author of Desire: 100 of Literatures Sexiest Stories. Theres nothing in this book, including her many attempts at creating the perfect relationship, that isnt relevant today.

Much as we talk the talk, I dont think the world has changed dramatically on the romantic front, or in terms of people aspiring to find the right partner. And I think Daniel Cleavers are in great abundance. I dont really see what would be out of date in the book, apart from the smoking.

Its such a relief to read about someone real rather than a prototype of what we think humanity should be like. If every single book about a woman was some prototype feminist saying all the right things and behaving in an absolutely admirable and militantly feminist way, it would be a dreary world.

She continues: Increasingly, in these rather intolerant times, I think its very good for us to be familiar with human foibles rather than constantly seeking human perfection.

Bridget Joness Diary is a totally timeless book. Its about all of the things that human beings will always aspire to: a connection with others, to find someone to love you, to find someone you can love back and to be the best person you can possibly be while at the same time recognising that we are all deeply flawed.

Bridget was my work buddy

Alexandra Heminsley was a junior press officer at Picador when a young woman called Bridget arrived for two weeks work experience in 2000. Little did she know it was actually Rene Zellweger who was there to research the part of her alter ego.

A smiley blonde woman who had a very posh accent and was quite amenable about helping out seemed completely normal, recalls Heminsley, bestselling author of Some Body To Love.

Only the publicity director knew who she was. Im sure she had quite a laugh watching me try to befriend Rene.

We sat on opposite sides of the partition, so if I stood up I could see her desk. The phones diverted to me and to her. There was no social media then, you had to answer the phone. After two or three days, I started to hear her say, Hello, publicity, just like me, and I wondered if she was taking the mickey.

After shed left, she wrote me a letter to thank me for looking after her, so I didnt feel like Id been taken for a fool and I had a laugh with my boss about it.

Heminsley continues: The whole pressure around body image and counting and quantifying yourself the way those diary entries open with all the statistics, is definitely still relevant and is fuelled by social media.

You can get your digital calorie counter and your Apple watch counting your steps. She would be counting so much more in those diary entries now, the likes, the steps

People are still sleeping with their bosses and massively regretting it

Vogue columnist Nell Frizzell, whose new book The Panic Years explores womanhood and motherhood, recalls that when Bridget Joness Diary was first published in 1996, she was 12 and her mother wouldnt let her read it.

She just wanted to protect me from the archetype of the neurotic self-hating woman. In a funny way that was a real feminist act on my mums part. She knew I had enough baggage about my weight and my looks and didnt want me to have that exacerbated by the book.

But I look back at Bridget Jones and the Smug Marrieds and her feelings of being out of sync with so many people around her and of running out of time, and I completely understand. Bridget Jones is still really relatable because unfortunately, we have not changed the way men think about commitment and fertility, and therefore women are [often] still expected to do that heavy lifting on their own.

In terms of the workplace sexual harassment Jones puts up with, Frizzell says: The #MeToo movement has shown that stuff is still happening in quite a lot of industries which we think of as aspirational and glamorous film, TV, theatre. The way its handled in the book and films, in a Carry On, bum-pinching, cleavage-ogling way, is now more uncomfortable with an audience.

But a lot of people are still sleeping with their bosses and massively regretting it.

My daughter would find her terribly dated

Bestselling novelist Fiona Gibson, whose new book The Dog Share is out in March, reflects: Recently, I dipped back into the book which grew out of those columns, expecting it to be horribly dated. It is dated, of course; sexism abounds, Bridget tolerates it and believes her life is incomplete until she meets Mr Right.

But so much of Bridget still resonates today like that feeling that she must better herself and be a proper grown up. Back then it seems almost quaint that, in her world, this amounted to calorie counting while trying and failing catastrophically to limit her consumption of cigarettes and booze.

Pre-Botox, fillers, Instagram and the Kardashian-influenced contouring make-up that grew from it, theres an innocence about Bridgets yearnings to be a better woman.

My daughter, whos 20, would find her terribly dated. But her peer group is familiar with loneliness and finding solace and joy in the company of friends. I think well always warm to the idea of a young woman bumbling through life, cocking up regularly, making us feel better about our own screw-ups.

I wish we could laugh at ourselves more

Daisy Buchanan, host of Youre Booked a podcast dedicated to reading whose debut novel Insatiable is published in February, read the books as a teenager. I think its relevant today. Whats really sad is that weve become a lot more earnest and I wish we could learn to laugh at ourselves a little more.

I think in this day and age the single Bridget would have Tinder binges with diary entries like: Must find sensible, functional man and not look at Tinder because its all a disaster and the next day would write: Hungover. Frantically swiping.

See original here:

So would the modern, single, wine-slurping woman find Bridget Jones relevant 25 years on? - The Scotsman