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The National
6 days ago
- The National
Domed ceilings, rugs and fibreglass heels: Inside the Middle East collections at London's V&A East Storehouse
Tunisian woollen rugs were among the first items from the Middle East collected by the organisers of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, which paved the way for the creation of the city's Victoria and Albert Museum. Today, as the landmark museum expands to the east of the capital, its collection boasts some of the rarest and most refined examples of Islamic art, as well as a range of contemporary design commissions from the Middle East. Among the major feats at the Storehouse, the V&A's new venue in the Olympic Park which opens on Saturday, is the reassembly of an Islamic domed ceiling from a lost 15th century palace in Torrijos, central Spain. The ornate wooden marquetry panels are believed to be from a dining room because of an Arabic inscription that reads 'we drink and have fun together'. For Storehouse curator Georgia Haseldine, the ceiling is an illustration of the collaboration between Christian and Islamic craftsmen of the time – a coexistence that was thwarted soon afterwards by the Spanish Inquisition. 'It was a moment when Islamic design was the high point of fashion across the Iberian Peninsula,' she told The National. 'Yet it is obviously tinged with sadness, because we are on the eve of that moment of the expulsions.' The ceiling is among 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives from the V&A's collections which have been made publicly available at the new venue in Stratford. Occupying four levels, the 16,000-square metre space takes over a large section of the former London 2012 Olympics media centre. A new V&A East museum will also open at a separate venue in the Olympic Park in 2026. The Storehouse's innovative approach makes the pieces normally confined to museum storage accessible to the public. Designed by Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, a central atrium is surrounded by racks of open shelving. V&A deputy director Tim Reeve, who developed the concept for the Storehouse, described it as a 'backstage pass' to the museum. '[It is] transforming how people can access their national collections on a scale unimaginable until now. I hope our visitors enjoy finding their creative inspiration and immersing themselves in the full theatre and wonder of the V&A as a dynamic working museum.' Visitors can walk through the space, where items are curated according to themes rather than by region or time period, and they can also 'order' objects for viewings in the private study rooms. Tatreez Palestinian dresses, decorated with traditional tatreez embroidery, are displayed on the way to the viewing studio. 'It is so important for us to be collecting tatreez because it is so regionally specific, and they're also so popular," Haseldine said. "Loads of people in east London are wanting to come here and see Palestinian tatreez." Contemporary design items such as rubber and fibreglass shoes designed by Zaha Hadid, and a silverwear sculpture by Miriam Hanid, commissioned by the V&A, are also prominently displayed. A stone sculpture by Lebanese artist Najla El Zein is one of the earliest pieces the museum acquired after appointing its first contemporary Middle East curator, Salma Tuqan, in 2011. 'That appointment was really important for the V&A,' Haseldine said. Community is at the heart of the V&A East expansion and Haseldine worked with young women from the Museum's Youth Collective to curate some of the displays. The Storehouse is expected to make important contributions to the regeneration of the Olympic Park and its surrounding areas, which this year were ranked as the UK's best for social mobility. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "proud" to be supporting the project, which "marks a hugely significant moment in our work to create the most ambitious cultural development in decades, helping us to ensure London stays the creative capital of the world'. Four Yemeni funerary stones nod to the V&A's work preserving culture in conflict. The stelae were discovered in a Hackney antiques shop by a Yemeni student in 2010. The items had been looted and were being sold in London as Mexican icons. The items were then seized by the Metropolitan Police and identified by the V&A. They are on temporary display at the Storehouse and will eventually be returned to Yemen. 'It is really moving for the Yemeni community in London that we've been talking to about this, because they can come see these artefacts and be in their presence,' Haseldine said. A Yemeni artist has been invited to produce a work inspired by the stelae later this year. A key feature of the Storehouse will be Order an Object, which invites viewers to 'order' an item from the collection to view and handle it in one of the study rooms. More than 1,000 objects have already been ordered since the online platform launched this month, including by someone seeking inspiration for her wedding dress design. Senior Middle East curator Tim Stanley recommends ordering the Tunisian rug that appeared at the Great Exhibition in 1851. 'Tunisian textiles have an honoured place in the history of the V&A. The organisers of the museum were so impressed with the design qualities of the textiles from Tunisia and other parts of the Islamic world that they bought them in large numbers,' he told The National. Dr Stanley also recommends an engraved ivory tent pole fitting, which marks the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman sultan Selim I in 1517. The Sultan is named in the Mamluk-style decorations, and it is believed the pole was made for him in Cairo. Visitors can also order items from the V&A's extensive fashion collection, such as a 1954 pink taffeta evening dress by Balenciaga. Haseldine hopes the collection and outreach programme can be used to promote cultural heritage projects in the Middle East. One example is the 1883 plaster cast of a rosette from the Mamluk period in Cairo which was recently restored and stabilised. It is being studied by Omniya Abdel Barr, a Cairene conservation architect and housing activist whose research at the Storehouse aims to show how museum objects can be used to support heritage conservation policies in Cairo. 'A collection can become an activist's tool. The evidence that we hold within the V&A points to things that need to be taken into concern by city planners,' Haseldine said of Barr's research. 'It's so exciting that this thing that was recorded and brought back to the V&A in the 1980s as this amazing example for craftspeople here in London, now has a whole other meaning, where its significance is going back to Cairo,' she said.
Toronto Sun
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
McCAUGHEY: New York City facing threat of an antisemitic mayor
Zohran Mamdani speaks enthusiastically into the microphone at a rally at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn New York on May 4 2025. Photo by Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images The surest way to trigger the collapse of New York City is to elect an antisemitic mayor. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Throughout history, rising antisemitism has been a bellwether of societal ruin. When attacks on Jews are tolerated or encouraged, the dissolution of everyone's rights and the abandonment of basic freedoms follow. See the Spanish Inquisition, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for examples. It could happen here. Electing a mayor who turns a blind eye to antisemitic crime will drive out huge numbers of city residents — including some of its wealthiest — while eroding the real estate market, hollowing out cultural institutions and leading to moral implosion. Everyone who can leave, Jews and non-Jews alike, will flee. Being Jewish in NYC is already getting uncomfortable. We see swastikas scrawled on walls and desks in some public schools, students elsewhere casually referring to high performers in math as 'the Jew table,' a Queens community garden posting a ban on Zionists and a 13-year-old Jewish boy slapped in the face while riding his bike through his neighbourhood. Such incidents are no longer shocking. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Since the beginning of the year, 60% of the confirmed hate crimes in Gotham have been anti-Jewish, although Jews make up just 10% of the city's population. All the top contenders for mayor claim to deplore antisemitism. Don't believe it. We need to scrutinize the candidates' records. The most dangerous wolf in sheep's clothing is Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman currently polling second in the Democratic primary, behind former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani is making the rounds at Jewish events. In the last month, he's attended at least seven public and private meetings and meals with Jewish leaders. On Friday, he posted an official campaign video proclaiming himself a defender of the Jewish people, promising an '800% increase' in city spending to 'combat antisemitism.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'In this election, we're seeing … the pain of Jewish New Yorkers being weaponized as a talking point,' he moaned. Don't fall for his new guise. Mamdani has backed the odious Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, calls Israel's actions against Gaza 'genocide' and recently refused to co-sponsor two Assembly resolutions to condemn the Holocaust and recognize the state of Israel. His campaign claims are just not credible. 'Mamdani has been fanning the flames of antisemitism and now he wants us to believe he's the firefighter,' warns David Greenfield of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a major Jewish charity. The New York Times calls Mamdani's stance on Jews and Israel 'nuanced.' Nonsense. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Meanwhile, Cuomo is betting big on Jewish voters, relying on a track record of supporting Israel and promoting its business ties with New York, as well as signing an anti-BDS bill in 2016. But his outreach appears to be inch-deep. After leaving the governor's office in shame, Cuomo launched the group Never Again NOW! at the tony Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, promising a lecture series and a paid media campaign to combat anti-Jewish hate. But nothing followed — and not even the website has been updated. Was it merely a convenient way for a disgraced former governor to reconnect with the donor class? Probably. Maybe Mayor Eric Adams' newly announced Office to Combat Antisemitism will produce real results. Adams, who is not competing in the June 24 primary, hopes to appear on November's general election ballot as an independent candidate on two lines — including one called 'EndAntiSemitism.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. It's outright pandering, but there's no question Adams has been a staunch ally of the Jewish community and a backer of Israel's military campaign against Hamas. Even so, almost all New York City's problems require a fix in Albany — antisemitism included — but the statewide Democratic Party has been AWOL. New York State saw more antisemitic incidents in 2024 than any other state, the Anti-Defamation League reported, in large part because attackers here face few criminal consequences. Yet last week, Democratic lawmakers in Albany defeated a bill that would have defunded campuses allowing terrorist activities. The 'radical left is no longer willing to stand up to anti-Israel terrorists and antisemites,' lamented state Senate Minority Leader Rob G. Ortt. The Democratic majority also refused to ban public mask-wearing, keeping Jew-hating criminals from being identified and held accountable. At least in Gotham, the mayoral wannabes have recognized antisemitism as a major issue. Now it's the voters' job to parse the candidates' promises and determine who's for real and who's the trombenik — that's Yiddish for 'faker.' Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. Governor of New York State Toronto Maple Leafs Music Toronto Maple Leafs Celebrity Music
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Don't trust the rhetoric: reject antisemitism in NYC mayor's race
The surest way to trigger the collapse of New York City is to elect an antisemitic mayor. Throughout history, rising antisemitism is a bellwether of societal ruin: When attacks on Jews are tolerated or encouraged, the dissolution of everyone's rights and the abandonment of basic freedoms follow. See the Spanish Inquisition, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for examples. Advertisement It could happen here. Electing a Jew-hating mayor who turns a blind eye to antisemitic crime will drive out huge numbers of city residents, including some of its wealthiest, erode the real estate market, hollow out cultural institutions and lead to moral implosion. Everyone who can leave, Jews and non-Jews alike, will flee. Being Jewish in NYC is already getting uncomfortable. Advertisement We've seen swastikas scrawled on walls and desks in some city public schools, students elsewhere casually referring to math high performers as 'the Jew table,' a Queens community garden posting a ban on Zionists, a 13-year-old Jewish boy slapped in the face as he rides his bike through his neighborhood — such incidents are no longer shocking. Since the beginning of the year, 60% of the confirmed hate crimes in Gotham have targeted Jews, even though they make up just 10% of the city's population. All the top contenders for mayor claim to deplore antisemitism. Don't believe it. We need to scrutinize the candidates' records. Advertisement The most dangerous wolf in sheep's clothing: Zohrab Mandani, a state assemblyman currently polling second in the Democratic primary behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani is making the rounds to Jewish events. He's attended at least seven public and private meetings and meals with Jewish leaders in the last month. On Friday he posted an official campaign video proclaiming himself a defender of the Jewish people, promising an '800% increase' in city spending to 'combat antisemitism.' Advertisement 'In this election, we're seeing . . . the pain of Jewish New Yorkers being weaponized as a talking point,' he moaned. Don't fall for his new guise. Mamdani has backed the odious Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, calls Israel's actions against Gaza 'genocide' and recently refused to co-sponsor two Assembly resolutions to condemn the Holocaust and recognize the state of Israel. His campaign claims are just not credible. 'Mandani has been fanning the flames of antisemitism, and now he wants us to believe he's the firefighter,' warns David Greenfield of the Met Council, a major Jewish charity. The New York Times calls Mamdani's stance on Jews and Israel 'nuanced.' Nonsense: He's a morally bankrupt Jew-hater. Meanwhile, Cuomo is betting big on Jewish voters, relying on a track record of supporting Israel and promoting New York-Israel business ties, as well as signing an anti-BDS bill in 2016. But his outreach appears to be inch-deep: After leaving the governor's office in shame, Cuomo launched the group 'Never Again NOW!' at the tony Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton, promising a lecture series and a paid media campaign to combat anti-Jewish hate. Advertisement But nothing followed — and not even the website has been updated. Was it merely a convenient way for a disgraced former governor to reconnect with the donor class? Probably. Maybe Mayor Eric Adams' newly announced Office to Combat Antisemitism will produce real results. Adams, who is not competing in the June 24 primary, hopes to appear on November's general-election ballot as an independent candidate on two lines — including one called 'ENDAntiSemitism.' Advertisement It's outright pandering, but there's no question Adams has been a staunch ally of the Jewish community and a backer of Israel's military campaign against Hamas. Even so, almost all New York City's problems require a fix in Albany, antisemitism included — but the statewide Democratic Party has been AWOL. New York state saw more antisemitic incidents in 2024 than any other state, the Anti-Defamation League reported — in large part because attackers here face few criminal consequences. Advertisement Yet last week, Democratic lawmakers in Albany defeated a bill to defund colleges that permit 'terrorist organizations or activities' on campus. 'The radical left no longer is willing to stand up to anti-Israel terrorists and antisemites,' Senate Minority Leader Rob G. Ortt told me after the vote. The Democratic majority has also refused to ban public mask-wearing, keeping Jew-hating criminals from being identified and held accountable. Advertisement At least in Gotham, the mayoral wannabes have recognized antisemitism as a major issue. Now it's the voters' job to parse the candidates' promises and determine who's for real and who's the trombenik — that's Yiddish for faker. Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.
Mint
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Is Trump a tyrant or a savior? Maybe just a bumbler
If you confine yourself to the mass media, you won't find many dissenters from a binary view of President Trump's second first hundred days. His hyperactive start is either an overdue and necessarily bruising overhaul of America's corrupted institutional framework, a revolution against a failed establishment, or else the most menacing arrogation of executive power in the history of the republic, a series of giant steps toward complete authoritarian takeover. But I wonder if there isn't an emerging mass of people for whom the bigger question isn't whether their president is a savior or a tyrant, but whether this man and this team are really capable of pulling off a project so bold and ambitious—whatever the intent. The important question may not be whether they are encouragingly redemptive or bottomlessly malevolent but whether they are simply incapable. To be sure, the grand task they have set for themselves—remaking the American and global order of the past few decades—would have been a stretch for a team of brilliant strongmen with the political genius of Machiavelli and the ruthless efficiency of the Spanish Inquisition. Mr Trump's immediate principal goals were laudable and commanded widespread approval: close the porous border, downsize a bloated government, end the woke lunacy that has had most of our establishment in its thrall, restore American strength in the world. But identifying goals is the easy part. Achieving them is a different matter. This exercise requires successful fights with entrenched, powerful interests in a diverse and pluralist country—and world. In their multifront 100-day war, the Trump team has taken on, in no particular order, the courts, leading universities, most of the media, much of the legal profession, the bond markets, the currency markets, the equity markets, the world's second-largest economy and second most powerful geopolitical force, the global system of alliances, and the global economic system. The theory behind the blitzkrieg approach is that its boldness is its principal guarantee of success: that by flooding the zone you keep enemies off balance and disoriented by the sheer energy, demoralized by the sheer ambition. But you do have to execute. The evidence is accumulating that this war is less Blitzkrieg than Blunderland. The Department of Government Efficiency has, as many of us suspected it would, delivered a mouse to challenge the mountain of U.S. government spending. The effort to revive American manufacturing is harming American manufacturing. Changing the rules of the international economy has proved hard: We still await even one of those vaunted trade deals from supplicant foreigners. Ending the war in Ukraine hasn't happened—but we have managed to alienate just about every partner we have. We may at least be edging closer to a bold new Iranian strategy—but it seems to be a retread of Barack Obama's failed strategy. Not only is there no evidence that China has been cowed by any of this, but it also seems the People's Republic of Harvard now likes its chances against the federal government—helped by the report that a blundering administration accidentally pressed send. To give credit where due, immigration restrictionism has been a big success. Many of us may not like the price paid in legal chicanery and a dubiously necessary heavy hand, and the administration may yet have to choose between an outright constitutional crisis and looking weak if it backs down to the courts over its deportation efforts. But the law-enforcement efforts and the message sent to immigration scofflaws have begun to offset the damage done by years of open borders. But elsewhere the impression is of escalating failure alongside escalating overreach. In its first few weeks the most striking difference between the second and first Trump administrations was a unity of purpose, a lack of internal dissent and an accent on execution. But two stories caught my eye last week for a more familiar picture of indiscipline and disarray. First we learned from the Journal about the bizarre lengths to which the president's economic-policy advisers went to get Mr. Trump to pause his destructive initial global tariff plan, how they had to ensure that tariff fan Peter Navarro was out of physical range of the president to get Mr. Trump to issue a statement revising the plan. Then there was the news of intensified internal fights at the Pentagon as three aides to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were ousted, one of whom took to social media to say they had been victims of 'baseless attacks" from colleagues. I don't doubt the seriousness of intent with which the Trump administration is seeking to remake the political and cultural landscape. Nor do I disdain the fears of those who argue that the administration's expansive interpretation of its executive authorities represents a threat to the constitutional order. The problem I have is that even as they overstep their limits, they seem to blunder deeper into the mire. Their biggest risk may be that voters will start to ask: What's the use of a strong man who can't do anything right?
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Where Will Roku Be in 1 Year?
The future is always in flux. No one saw the COVID-19 pandemic coming. Razor-thin election wins can make a huge difference to politics and economics. Consumer tastes can shift much faster (or slower!) than anticipated. And nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. So it's not easy to set realistic long-term targets. Surprising events can come along and spoil the best-laid plans. But I wouldn't be much of an investor if I didn't have some sense of what's coming next. The timelines may be off and the precise business events will vary. Still, it's reasonable to set up directional expectations and roll with the punches. Let's look at one of my favorite stocks to buy in this market. What should you expect from Roku (NASDAQ: ROKU) over the next year? Here's what I see in the media-streaming technology expert's road ahead. First of all, Roku will still be a growing technology business with headquarters in San Jose, California. I'm really confident in this basic prediction, though it may be a surprise to some investors. I mean, the stock isn't exactly priced for absolute disaster, but it isn't much of a market darling, either. Roku shares are trading at 2.9 times trailing sales, more comparable to struggling low-growth retailers than exciting peers in the entertainment technology business. Roku's stock is also down 9% in the past month, and its beta value of 2.1 points to a volatile and potentially risky investment. Furthermore, about 7% of Roku shares are on loan to short-sellers. That's not a shockingly pessimistic market view, but still comparable to the struggling retailers I mentioned a minute ago. So I might ruffle some feathers here, but I'm pretty sure Roku will be alive and well in a year -- or many years down the road, for that matter. All right, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Roku has delivered steady growth where it really matters in recent years. It's true that earnings and cash flows took a dive into negative territory during the inflation crisis. It's also true that Roku's revenue growth ground to a halt at the bottom of that period, reporting almost exactly flat year-over-year comparisons in the first two quarters of 2023. It's also true that Roku kept adding customers by the proverbial truckload even in the darkest days. Active accounts increased by 16.8% and 16.5% in those two reports of frozen top-line sales growth. Roku achieved this client growth in a period of penny-pinching personal budgets by taking a financial hit on behalf of its customers. While many rivals became a part of the inflation problem by raising prices to protect their profit margins, Roku held its software and hardware pricing firm instead. That's the reason behind Roku's recent history on unprofitable operation. It was a voluntary gambit, and an effective one. Roku's customer count has grown 28.3% in the past two years and 49.4% since the end of 2021. And that's how you build a robust foundation for many years of profitable growth in the future. It will probably take more than just another year to get Roku's bottom-line profit back on track. But the low-cost gambit has ended, Roku raised its prices a bit in 2024, and the global economy should get back on its feet again someday. Again, it's hard to tell exactly how the economic picture will play out amid armed conflicts, trade wars, and the renaming of international waterways. The Spanish Inquisition can pop up at any moment. Even so, I think it's fair to assume that Roku will be more profitable in 2025 as its advertising business evolves and the international expansion plans continue. This little growth stock is going places, and I think it's very undervalued right now. I keep coming back to Roku stock every time I have some investable cash to spend. Before you buy stock in Roku, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Roku wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $744,133!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 167% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 24, 2025 Anders Bylund has positions in Roku. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Roku. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Where Will Roku Be in 1 Year? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
