It was a night of laughs, tears and Rudy Giuliani digs – Adam White and Jacob Stolworthy round up the highlights
Special mention must go to Billy Murray's Hawaiian shirt and martini
'Could this whole night have been an email? YES!'
The movie is up for two awards next week despite its troubling and misleading depictions of autism and restraint. This isn’t a cry for the singer’s cancellation, says Helen Brown. But it’s time to stop the stereotypes for good
Despite the famously erratic decision-making making the winners hard to predict, Clarisse Loughrey goes through her predictions and hopes for this year’s ceremony
Awards season is here, but with a twistFrom ELLE
Dour and self-serious, James Nesbitt’s Northern Irish police officer has all the intrigue of a Where’s Wally? puzzle, and the ‘cop with a tragic past’ shtick feels as tired here as ever
You’d think the world had had enough of police procedurals – but the ITV drama offers up some much-needed escapism
Lockdown's financial impact on women is being “overlooked”, more than 60 female business leaders and MPs have warned as they call for more support in the upcoming Budget. In a letter published in The Daily Telegraph, leading names including Dame Helena Morrissey, Dame Jenni Murray and former home secretary Amber Rudd have joined the British Beauty Council in urging the Government to commit to safeguarding the retail and beauty industries. The letter, also signed by Trinny Woodall, Mary Portas, Cherie Blair QC, Tamara Gillan and Baroness Bertin points to evidence that the clock is being turned back on Britain’s working women, and urges the Government to halt the reversal by “properly assessing the impact the pandemic has had on women’s lives in the UK”. The group is calling for a temporary cut to VAT for hair and beauty salons down to 5 per cent [from 20 per cent], in line with the VAT relief offered to the hospitality sector. They are also asking the Government to continue the business rates holiday to the end of the pandemic, and to lower it to 50 per cent thereafter. The letter adds: “These actions would show the Government’s commitment to backing business women in Britain, and that the female workforce is considered as a vital part of the UK’s recovery plan.” Rishi Sunak is due to announce a £5 billion grant for high street shops and pubs in the Budget on Wednesday, with individual businesses eligible to apply for up to £18,000 each. Vivienne King, Chair of the Shopkeepers’ Campaign, welcomed the fund but said it doesn't go anywhere near far enough to solving the problems faced by the retail sector. "While government grants are always welcome, up to 18,000 per business is a drop in the ocean for what these sectors need," said King. "We need long term reform of the business rates system, which is killing retail." Research by the Resolution Foundation has found that women are more likely than men to be working in sectors that have shut down during the pandemic. While Institute for Fiscal Studies research has shown that working mothers are almost 50 per cent more likely than fathers to have either lost their job or quit during the pandemic. Due to school closures, one in three working mothers has lost work to cope with extra unpaid duties at home, according to the Fawcett Society.
The United States vs. Billie Holiday — Billie Holiday, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, spent much of her career being adored by fans across the globe. Beginning in the 1940’s in New York City, the federal government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to escalate and racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, “Strange Fruit.” Billie Holiday (Andra Day), shown. (Photo by: Takashi Seida/Hulu) When you think of Billie Holiday, you might think of her anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit” or another of her classics like “God Bless the Child.” Maybe you think of her signature look of bold lipstick and flowers in her hair. Perhaps you’ve heard about her struggles with drug addiction. But, after watching The United States vs. Billie Holiday, it’s impossible not to see Holiday in a different light, beyond that of a legendary singer. The new film from director Lee Daniels focuses on Holiday’s (Andra Day) addiction to heroin and the way the Federal Bureau of Narcotics attempted to take her down. They knew they could catch her on drug charges, but as the film shows, the head of the FBN, Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund) was actually targeting her because she was a popular Black woman who had an anti-lynching protest song as one of her biggest hits. The movie shows Holiday’s relationships, her friendships, the highs and lows of her career, and briefly touches on her childhood. But how accurate is all of this to what really happened in Holiday’s life? Billie Holiday’s Early Life & Real Name The United States vs. Billie Holiday shows Holiday’s childhood during a flashback. A young Holiday — who was then called her birth name, Eleanora — is living in a brothel with her mother, who kicks her out, telling her she should become a sex worker herself. This scene condenses a lot of information into a couple of minutes. (It’s also not meant to seem entirely like reality, since it’s part of a drug trip scene.) In real life, Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia in 1915 and spent much of her childhood in Baltimore. When she was a young teen, she and her mother moved to New York. By the time she was 16, reports Time, they were both sex workers. Holiday eventually got arrested for prostitution. The Height of Billie Holiday’s Career & “Strange Fruit” Holiday’s story in the film begins in 1947 when she was 32 years old. At this point, she was well into her career after being discovered when she was 20 and “Strange Fruit” was well known. As a reference point, “Strange Fruit” was recorded in 1939 and “God Bless the Child” in 1941, so the movie begins when Holiday’s career is taking a turn for the worst. Holiday married her first husband, Jimmy Monroe (Erik LaRay Harvey) in 1941 and they divorced in 1947, which is in line with what we see in the movie. According to Biography, she began doing hard drugs in the early ’40s with Monroe, and started on heroin with her boyfriend and trumpeter Joe Guy (Melvin Gregg). The Takedown & Trial Of Billie Holiday If you’ve seen the movie, the number one thing you’re probably wondering about is what Holiday’s relationship was really like with Jimmy Fletcher (Trevante Rhodes). Fletcher really was a federal agent and he really was hired to infiltrate Holiday’s circle. One of the key differences between real life and the film is that Fletcher’s bust of Holiday isn’t the one that led directly to her prison sentence. Holiday was busted on drugs multiple times before she was convicted, according to Johann Hari’s book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, on which the film is based. Is it true that Holiday asked to be sent to rehab when she was sentenced, but instead was sent to prison. She spent nearly one year in prison in West Virginia. As for the relationship between Holiday and Fletcher, not too much is known, so the film takes some liberties. “I had so many close conversations with her, about so many things,” Fletcher once said, according to Hari’s book. “She was the type who would make anyone sympathetic because she was the loving type.” Trevante Rhodes, who plays Fletcher in the movie, told Refinery29 that he gathered from an interview he read with Fletcher that the agent really did love Holiday, but that he had to create a character for the film. Billie Holiday After Prison, Until Her Death Holiday lost her cabaret card as part of her sentencing, which meant she couldn’t perform in small clubs. But, as seen the movie, she really did perform at Carnegie Hall after prison and was able to tour. She was also arrested again during this time. In 1959, Holiday was diagnosed with cirrhosis, which meant the function of her liver was impaired. She was hospitalised, and it’s true that she was literally arrested on her deathbed for drug possession. According to Britannica, she was denied methadone treatment and her body had to detox on its own. Holiday died in the hospital at age 44. As you can, see the general story of Holiday’s life is depicted accurately in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. But, as the film focuses on Holiday and Fletcher, details had to be created to tell that story and some presumptions made about their relationship. And, of course, there’s plenty that was left out — the movie doesn’t go too in depth about her marriages, for one thing. But no one’s full life story — especially that of one of the world’s most legendary artists — can be told in two hours. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?Trevante Rhodes Is Conflicted About Jimmy FletcherWatch These 14 Globe Nominated Shows ASAPThe 2021 Globes Will Be Weird
‘Part-time workers have long complained they have to pay the full price for season tickets.’ the then-rail minister said in September 2013
"Each year when I have a birthday I think about when my sister was very sick."
The simple tape trick has proved popular on TikTok...
With a dry, sardonic wit and a longstanding ability to make the truth funny, the comedy writer turned movie star is the ideal choice to host a socially distanced awards show, says Rachel Brodsky
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Its design makes it perfect and stylish maternity-wear.
Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for It’s a Sin Since it premiered in January, It’s a Sin has moved us to tears, broken streaming records, and led to an uptick in the number of HIV tests taking place. With viewers clamouring for more information about the Pink Palace gang, the show’s writer-creator, Russell T Davies, has revealed that many plot details were plucked from real life. For instance, the show’s central female character, kind and compassionate Jill (Lydia West), is based on Davies’s real-life friend Jill Nalder. In a lovely bit of casting, real-life Jill actually has a role in the series as the mother of fictional Jill. Davies has also revealed that he originally envisaged his landmark drama series about the HIV/AIDS crisis as stretching out over eight episodes. Channel 4 only wanted four, but Davies put his foot down and managed to increase the episode count to five. “It could’ve been eight episodes long, and there would’ve been an extra flatmate, and he would’ve had adventures,” Davies said in a new interview on Damian Barr’s Literary Salon. “But I was offered four episodes, and that’s fine. Everything that I would’ve done kind of compacted inwards.” Davies also revealed that the series was “always meant” to have an episode set in the present-day – nearly 30 years after we see Ritchie (Olly Alexander) losing his life to AIDS. View this post on Instagram A post shared by It’s A Sin | The Pink Palace ✨ (@thepinkpalace) “It was never written, so it doesn’t exist, but it was kind of budgeted for,” he continued. “We’d catch up with Jill at the age of 55 and she’s still working in mental and sexual health. It’s too long a story to describe, but you get the feeling that she’s trapped in that world, actually.” Davies also revealed that we would have seen Jill “going on cruise ships and to conference centres and singing songs on the West End with all her mates”. She also would have reconnected with her Pink Palace flatmate, Roscoe (Omari Douglas), and learned that he has contracted HIV as a middle-aged man. “You know, 50 years old and he’s got the virus having escaped it all those years,” Davies said. And she would have visited Ritchie’s mother, Valerie (Keeley Hawes), on the Isle of Wight, where she would now be living in a care home. Once there, Jill would hear about the “sexual abuse at the heart of the Tozer household and [learn] how Valerie ended up like she did”. Frankly, it sounds like there would be more than enough material for a Jill-centric spin-off series. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?The True Stories Behind It's A SinWatch These 13 Globe Nominated Shows ASAPIt's A Sin Was Very Carefully Cast
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