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Michael Palin: I wish I'd written Pulp's Common People

Michael Palin: I wish I'd written Pulp's Common People

Times30-06-2025
Dubliners by James Joyce, enhanced by being immaculately produced in the Macmillan Collector's Library edition. I travel a lot on the London Underground and have read these wonderful, evocative short stories many times and on many lines.
For a longer train journey I need something more meaty so I've been reading A Delicate Truth by John le Carré. There's a lot of anger in his books, which I like.
EL Doctorow is a confident, absorbing storyteller and of all his output I'd most like to have written The Book of Daniel, about the trial of and executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
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Vogue readers furious after spotting 'disturbing' AI models in an ad in the prestigious magazine
Vogue readers furious after spotting 'disturbing' AI models in an ad in the prestigious magazine

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Vogue readers furious after spotting 'disturbing' AI models in an ad in the prestigious magazine

It looks like fashion label Guess is not shying away from using artificial intelligence in its ad campaigns - after the brand ran a two-page spread in this month's August edition of Vogue that was 'produced' by an AI marketing company. The advertisements appeared about halfway through Vogue's August print issue, showing a woman with bouncy, long blonde hair modeling two different outfits on separate pages. The images were not part of Vogue editorial, but instead, presumably paid advertisements for the Guess brand that appeared in the famous fashion bible. In one ad, the model sat at a café table with a cup of coffee, wearing a light blue romper covered in mesh floral detailing, as well as a gold watch and necklace from the brand. The other photo depicted the same AI model in a black-and-white chevron print dress, carrying a matching Guess handbag in front of a 'shop' filled with hats in their window. In the fine print on the side of the ad, it read that the campaign was produced by 'Seraphinne Vallora on AI.' Seraphinne Vallora is an agency that designs 'editorial level AI-driven marketing campaigns and cinematic videos,' its campaigns featured not only in Vogue but also in Elle and Harper's Bazaar. On its website, London-based founders Valentina and Andreea stated that they wanted to use AI to brands' advantage. 'We want to harness the incredible power of AI to revolutionize marketing images. We realized that AI offered a cost-effective, hassle-free path to design brilliance,' the website reads. 'No more expensive travel or complicated arrangements, We wanted to make it all accessible, to companies of all sizes. 'An easy solution to market their companies without the stress and complications.' Daily Mail reached out to Guess for comment. But the advertisement didn't seem to slip past eagle-eyed fashion fans, as it went viral on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning. Popular account Pop Crave posted a TikTok made by user @lala4an, which showed the ad. However, Pop Crave incorrectly claimed that Vogue was using the AI models - when it was in fact Guess. But even so, it looks like many fashion fans weren't happy with the choice, as they furiously responded to the Pop Crave post. 'This is kinda sad. There's so many people who would love to be on the magazine just for them to be giving these opportunities to AI…' one user wrote. Another agreed, 'That's disturbing. This is the direction AI should not be going in... wow.' 'AI is not even sparing the fashion industry,' someone else typed. One X user pointed out, 'Great. The new beauty standard will be, literally, unobtainable because it's not real.' Others, however, thought that it was a great sign for the future. 'The future is here. Takes less time and much cheaper to make,' someone shared. Another agreed, 'Well, it's cheaper.' The advertisement comes just one year after OpenAI and Vogue's publishing parent, Condé Nast, announced a partnership together, per BBC. The deal involved allowing ChatGPT and its search engine, SearchGPT, to display content from Vogue and its other publications like GQ. The deal was reported to be multi-year.

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Kevin Spacey allegedly sexually assaulted a young actor at a party at The Savoy hotel and then told him 'Don't worry about it', court documents for the High Court legal claim suggest. Ruari Cannon is suing Mr Spacey as well as two organisations connected to the Old Vic Theatre in London, claiming he suffered psychiatric damage as a result of sexual and emotional abuse. The 33-year-old has waived his anonymity in the claim. In court documents seen by the PA news agency, Mr Cannon alleges that Mr Spacey, who was a 'powerful figure and a world-famous actor and celebrity' at the time, assaulted him in about June 2013, when he was 'a very vulnerable young man'. Oscar-winning actor Mr Spacey has previously denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoing, and details of his defence are not yet available. According to the documents, filed in June, Mr Spacey was working as artistic director at the Old Vic Theatre at the time of the alleged assaults on a production of a play by Tennessee Williams known as Sweet Bird Of Youth, and Mr Cannon was a member of the cast in this production. They claim that Mr Spacey 'took a particular interest' in Mr Cannon for 'reasons of sexual interest' and sent him a 'lavish' gift of a framed poster of the 1985 production of the play directed by Harold Pinter. After the press preview of the show on June 12 2013, Mr Cannon attended a party at The Savoy in London organised by The Old Vic Theatre Company (The Cut) and The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000. It is claimed that one of the alleged assaults took place at the event. Setting out the allegations, Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel KC, for Mr Cannon, said: 'Kevin Spacey pulled the claimant towards him, turned him around through 45 degrees and placed his left hand on the claimant's buttocks and lifted up the recess material of his suit.' It is alleged that Mr Spacey then pushed Mr Cannon's underwear 'as far up' into his bottom as possible, 'so as to cause pain and distress'. Ms Gumbel added: 'Mr Kevin Spacey pulled the claimant closer to him and whispered into the claimant's ear 'Don't worry about it'. 'Mr Spacey made more uncalled for and unwelcome advances to the claimant during the evening.' The following day, Mr Cannon reported the alleged assaults to his stage manager at the Old Vic Theatre, but no action was taken. According to the documents, it is accepted that Mr Cannon did not ask for any action to be taken, and was scared about how any further action might affect his career. Later that year, during the run of the show, Mr Cannon saw Mr Spacey at the Old Vic bar. Mr Spacey allegedly said to him, 'I hear you have a dirty secret', and then said: 'Open up.' Ms Gumbel said: 'Kevin Spacey then forced open the claimant's mouth with his fingers and thumbs and commented 'quite a bad boy' before the claimant could pull away. 'The claimant then left the bar. The forcing open of the claimant's mouth was another assault for which Kevin Spacey was responsible and for which the second and/or third defendants were vicariously liable. 'Further in 2017 when the Old Vic set up a confidential complaints email on October 31 2017 the claimant reported the above complaint again to the Old Vic.' She added that the alleged assaults were carried out by Mr Spacey in the course of his work for the organisations connected to the Old Vic, and they are 'vicariously liable' for the alleged assaults carried out in the context of a theatre production.

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