Britain’s phone hacking scandal truly is the gift that keeps on giving. On Sunday, news broke from the Cannes Film Festival that “Rebekah Brooks: The Movie”will be coming soon to a theater near you.

Most people know Rebekah Brooks as Rupert Murdoch’s erstwhile girl Friday in the British arm of his media empire, News Corp. Until July of last year, she served as chief executive at the London-based News International, before abruptly resigning over her alleged role in the phone-hacking scandal.

Brooks was charged last week on three separate counts of obstruction of justice, including conspiring to remove boxes of archive records from Murdoch’s London headquarters, concealing material from detectives, and hiding documents, computers and other electronic equipment from the police. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, although the average term served is 10 months.

There’s no question that Brooks is the perfect subject for a film. With her flowing, auburn ringlets and mysteriously cool — almost detached — demeanor, she looks like she stepped out of a Botticelli portrait.

Read the rest of this post at The Washington Post’s She The People blog…

Image: News International’s Rebekah Brooks Under Fire by ssoosay via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

As a denizen of North London lo’ these past five and a half years, I’ve had my fair share of celebrity sightings. I’ve caught a glimpse of chef Boy Wonder Jamie Oliver as he entered a local bookstore. I’ve exchanged a few pleasantries with actress Helena Bonham Carter. I’ve even locked eyes with comedian Ricky Gervais at the hair dresser’s.

But by far the most exciting celebrity encounter to date was this week, when I attended a Q and A with author George R.R. Martin.

Martin — or GRRM as he’s known to fans — is the writer of the best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, on which the hugely popular HBO television series, Game of Thrones, is based. If you haven’t read the books — and you really should — they are famous for their unbelievably graphic and realistic depiction of medieval life, replete with internecine power struggles between warring clans, routine war crimes of the most vicious sort and, yes, quite a bit of sex. The net effect, as many have observed, is a good deal closer to history than fantasy.

I myself am not normally a fantasy reader. I came to these books via my 11 year-old son who, like many fans, literally counted down the nights until last summer’s release of the fifth volume in the series — A Dance With Dragons . (Yeah, I know. Please don’t ask. He was 4,000 pages in before I realized that the books might not be appropriate.) But at my son’s insistence, I immersed myself in Martin’s Kingdom of Westeros and its more than 1,000 characters and have never looked back. So when I saw that Martin would be giving a talk at a local University theatre, I ran to get us some tickets.

He did not disappoint.

Read the rest of this post at The Washington Post’s She The People blog…

Image: George R.R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones by Arnold Tijerina via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

In an election year in which much has been made about the star power of political wives, it’s worth pausing to contemplate an entirely different role model for this category: British Prime Minister David Cameron’s wife, Samantha, who’s traveling with her husband to Washington this week.

As David Cameron and President Obama come together to reaffirm the importance of the Special Relationship between the United States and Great Britain, Samantha Cameron will also make her official U.S. debut. But while there’s been a fair bit of buzz about her personal style, I’d be quite surprised if her contribution to this carefully orchestrated visit makes a huge splash on either side of the Atlantic.

It’s not that “Sam Cam” — as she’s known over here — isn’t seen as an asset by her husband’s handlers. During his election campaign two years ago, the prime minister referred to her as his “secret weapon.” She is often described as “elegant,” “down to earth” as well as “surprisingly normal,”   Samantha Cameron has helped remove a bit of the stuffy, Eton-to-Oxbridge air of privilege that has engulfed her husband at times. (The former art student sports a dolphin tattoo on her ankle.)

In this way, she’s not entirely unlike the political wives of the current GOP hopefuls, most notably Anne Romney, who have been praised – in the words of my colleague Patricia Murphy – for coming across as “trustworthy, relatable and aware that the 21st century started a while ago.”

Read the rest of this post at The Washington Post’s She The People blog…

Image: David and Samantha backstage at Conference by conservativeparty

Most of my British friends won’t see The Iron Lady on principle. “Her again?” is their feeling — not about its star, Meryl Streep, but its title character, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

As middle-aged, generally left-leaning types who came of age in the 1980s, when Thatcher ruled supreme, they loathe “Maggie” and everything she stood for. In their minds, she ruined the British public education system, decimated trade unions and privatized the nation.

I myself nearly gave the movie a pass, though not for political reasons. Other than Streep – whom everyone agrees gives an amazing performance – most people, whether reviewers or friends – seemed to feel pretty “meh” about the film itself. So I figured that I could just wait and rent it once it came out on DVD.

It was my 80 year-old mother, herself a former actress, who set me straight and motivated me to go see “The Iron Lady” in a theatre. And I’m so glad that she did.

Read the rest of this post at The Washington Post’s She The People blog…

Image: Margaret Thatcher Waxwork by soulmate02 via Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Dear Daniel Radcliffe, a.k.a. Harry Potter, please stop acting like a jackass.

In a desperate attempt to outgrow his lifelong association as the Boy Wonder of Hogwarts Academy, Daniel Radcliffe has been trying desperately to revamp his  image lately. But he’s rapidly becoming  too cool for school.

Last summer, Radcliffe revealed to the British press that he’d given up drinking after a longstanding battle with alcohol. Fair enough. Although it was disconcerting to imagine Harry Potter downing anything more than butterbeer, lots of child stars struggle with substance abuse problems at an early age, even if the kids on the set of Harry Potter were thought to have coped better with the dual exigencies of fame and childhood than the likes of Lindsay Lohan.

But recently, Radcliffe went into TMI overdrive, telling the Daily Mail about how he’s had sex with fans, sometimes while under the influence. (Again, one thinks back to that first kiss with Cho Chang and shudders at the thought.)

So what gives?

 Read the rest of this post at The Washington Post’s She The People blog…

Image: Harry Potter by karly ilustraciones via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Every Wednesday I offer tips for adulthood.

So in case you didn’t hear, Monday January 17th was allegedly the saddest day of the year. Based on a mathematical formula, sadness is predicted to peak on the third Monday of each new year. This is usually a result of post-holiday blues/failed New Years Resolutions/bad weather and the like. Some even refer to it as Blue Monday.

If you found yourself inordinately down on Monday – or any day this month – here are five reasons to cheer up:

1. You’re not Sarah Palin. Although she can seem sometimes like America’s Princess Diana, former Alaskan Governor and ex-Vice Presidential running mate Sarah Palin is having a bad month. In the aftermath of the tragic shootings in Arizona, Palin failed to adopt a sufficiently conciliatory and empathic response. Instead, she went on a tear, aggressively defending herself from insinuations that she was to blame for the massacre and painting herself as the victim, rather than the 6 people who died and 13 who were injured. (The press also played a hand in this, mind you.) A post-Tucson Gallup poll commissioned by USA Today found that Palin’s rating is at its lowest level since she burst onto the national political scene in September 2008. She is seen in a favourable light by 38% of US voters, while 53% have an unfavourable view.

2. You’re not Amy Chua. Amy Chua – a.k.a. Tiger Mother - wrote a chilling oped in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks back about the draconian tactics she uses to exact perfection from her two daughters. And the blogosphere hasn’t ceased talking about it since. (Initial WSJ article has 6,800 comments and counting…) As someone who wrestles with having high expectations for her children – albeit without denying them food, drink or bathroom breaks as Chua claims to – I’m not entirely immune to Tiger Mother-like tendencies. But, boy, is she in the dog house this month, especially among Mommy Bloggers. My colleague Joanne Bamberger likened Chua’s child-reading tactics to child abuse. Ouch.

3. You’re not Ricky Gervais. British comedian Ricky Gervais hosted this year’s Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood and the consensus in the American press, at least, seems to be that he bombed. I actually thought that with one or two exceptions, Gervais was pretty funny. (Watch his opening monologue and judge for yourself.) But the rumor is that he is persona non grata at the awards ceremony next year, which – not that you asked – he has no interest in hosting anyway.

4. You’re not Robert DeNiro. If you think Gervais stunk the place up at the Golden Globes, then Robert DeNiro really tanked. As a huge fan of award shows, I was totally befuddled by his acceptance speech for the Cecil B. De Mille Lifetime Achievement Award. This man needs to stop working in the Focker franchise and go back to real acting so that he remembers show to properly thank people for recognizing his amazing career.

5. You’re not Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Not a household name? This is the now-exiled former president of Tunisia who was just tossed out as leader of his country after ruling for – oh – about 25 years. We won’t feel too sorry for Mr. Ben Ali, who fled the country with 1.5 tonnes of gold worth more than $60 million. Still, it’s fair to say that it wasn’t a great month for him, either.

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And speaking of having a bad month, in case you want a quick update on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s latest sexual shenanigans, here’s my post for Politics Daily.

Image: BAFTA 2008 – Ricky Gervais by claire_h via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Read the rest of this story at www.PoliticsDaily.com…

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Speaking of Wikileaks, here’s my round up of European reactions to the scandal on Politics Daily.

Image: varios 84 by fotos de camisetas de SANTI OCHOA via Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

Well, here’s a sign of the times. The Huffington Post is launching a new section devoted to divorce. It was conceived by writer/journalist/filmmaker Nora Ephron, who will also serve as founding editor.

In some ways, one’s tempted to ask: What took you so long? After all, as my colleague Bonnie Goldstein reported last week, marriage is at a historic low in the United States. And while U.S. divorce rates have declined slightly with respect to their all-time high in the early 1980s, they are still high by international standards. According to The National Marriage Project’s State of Our Unions 2007 report, for the average couple marrying for the first time, the lifetime probability of divorce or separation remains between 40 and 50 percent.

But, of course, it’s one thing to know that divorce is in the air and it’s another to say that out loud, as my colleague David Gibson noted last week with respect to divorce within Christian communities. Which is to say that when a mainstream publication like The Huffington Post makes divorce a special focus — on par with, say, “religion” and “politics” and “education” — that’s really saying something. (Full disclosure: I also write for the Huffington Post’s Living section.)

Read the rest of this post on www.PoliticsDaily.com…

Image: Redesign At The Huffington Post by jessabean

Move over, Susan Boyle. You’ve got competition. She’s 10 years old, she’s beautiful and, boy, can she sing.

In Tuesday’s episode of “America’s Got Talent,” Pennsylvania native Jackie Evancho knocked the audience off its feet with her rendition of the Puccini aria “O Mio Babbino Caro.” The judges could not believe their ears: During an interview with Jackie after she was finished, one of the judges asked her to re-sing a note — just to be sure they really were listening to a 10-year-old and not some offstage diva.

Read the rest of this story at www.politicsdaily.com…

Image: Vocal Microphone by Magic Photography via Flickr Under A Creative Commons License.

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For those who are interested, I’m also over on Politics Daily today talking about the latest round of controversy surrounding the Lockberie Bomber’s humanitarian release from a Scottish prison last year.