Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a Russian businessman who became Russia’s richest man, was rising fast in the capitalist free-for-all unleashed by Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika and the subsequent collapse of Soviet Communism. In The Russia Conundrum Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once an oil tycoon of Yukos Oil company which has been sold piecemeal to a state rival headed by Putin…
Larry the cat, born in January 2007, has served as Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street since 15th February 2011. The tabby brown and white cat was recruited from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home on the recommendation of his mousing skills. Larry has seen four prime ministers…
Liz Truss is UK’s third female Prime Minister and becomes UK’s 56th PM. Johnson the outgoing PM in his farewell speech said “Get Behind Truss”. The Prime Minister was appointed by the Queen at Balmoral Castle. Earlier Boris Johnson tendered his resignation to the monarch after travelling separately to Scotland. It is understood that the…
Boris Johnson, the outgoing PM bids farewell in a speech outside No 10, calls himself “a booster Rocket” that has “fulfilled its function” as he hands over to Liz Truss. “This is it, folks,” he says and boasts of his record in office and calls on the Conservative Party to unite behind Liz Truss. He…
Elizabeth Truss has beaten ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak to become the new Tory leader, and the new UK PM, after winning the contest to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader. Truss, is a former Liberal Democrat activist who marched against Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, but who now claims to be the keeper of the…
The former USSR president, Mikhail Gorbachev who opened up the USSR and brought the cold war to a peaceful end, but failed to prevent its collapse in 1991 died aged 91. Gorbachev, as the youngest member of the ruling council known as the Politburo, took over in 1985, with his reformist policies for the…
Behind Closed Doors is the result of a decade of research and writing on London clubs, based on exclusive behind-the-scenes access to archives and proceedings, as well as a love of gossip and scandal. The ups and downs of London Clubland which grew to spread around the world, with its four hundred clubs, and how…
Lee Jaw-Yong, Samsung heir, convicted of bribery and embezzlement in 2017 – has been granted a special presidential pardon. Lee was twice imprisoned for bribing a former president. South Korea’s government justified the move, saying the de-facto leader of the country’s biggest company was needed back at the helm to spearhead economic recovery post-pandemic. Lee’s…
An investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II and how the world allowed them to get away with it. When Porsche makes its planned public debut later this year, the descendants of the sports car manufacturer’s eponymous founder an SS…
India’s 15th President, 64-year-old Droupadi Murmu is sworn in on Monday. In her acceptance speech, Murmu said “ The country’s deprived, poor, Dalits and tribals can see their reflection in her” which, she added, is a matter of big satisfaction for her. She also paid tributes to India’s freedom fighters and said the country will…