Latest news with #WalkLikeAnEgyptian
The Herald Scotland
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Why Clarkson's cracks about Scotland make him a bloody idiot
The expression "word salad" is often linked to disordered discourse. Eliot Higgins, who runs the investigative journalism outfit Bellingcat, has been discussing it, and seems to be on to something. We talk about living in the post-truth age. Indeed, we've transited through the post-truth age to the post-reality age where disparate groups share no common ground. The death of any shared reality reveals itself in thoughts and ideas – discourse – which seem truly bizarre, or disordered. We hear comments today that frankly would have seen you jeered from the public stage a decade ago. The disorder is a two-way street afflicting both left and right. No group is immune as the very nature of being in a group today – a hard-delineated political subset fixed around identity – means estrangement from all other groups. Estrangement causes derangement, perhaps. The left is guilty, certainly, though it's on the ascendant right where you'll find discourse that's truly disordered. Read more by Neil Mackay Among the left, it's primarily on the swivel-eyed fringes where you'll hear people claim that songs like Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles are acts of cultural appropriation, or that The Tempest subjects audiences to colonial trauma (in fact, if you've studied the play, it's more accurately interpreted as Shakespeare's critique of colonialism). On the right, though, grotesque exaggeration, thin-skinned fragility and wild demonisation of opponents is now commonplace. Check any internet message board – even computer game forums, for pity's sake – if you're in doubt. Both sides behave deleteriously towards democracy, but the greater danger lies firmly to the right. Given we now live in a world that's more ridiculous than sublime, it's unsurprising to find Jeremy Clarkson emerging as the zeitgeisty exemplar of disordered discourse. Clarkson, a newspaper commentator, chose to describe the SNP's scrapping of peak rail fares as 'communism'. Clarkson regularly boasts about his terrible A-level results, so history and political science were clearly not his strengths. In theory, communism heralds a workers' utopia. I struggle to see how tweaking train prices ushers in an era of universal brotherly love and income equality. In practice, communism involves marching your opponents into the gulag and shooting them in the head for thought-crime. I'm pretty sure this hasn't happened in Scotland. Evidently, blokey old Jeremy will say it's just the bantz. He's only having a larf, isn't he? Well, yes and no. Firstly, Clarkson is a commentator not a comedian. He can say what he wants, but maybe stand-up suits his talents better than journalism. Secondly, even Clarkson sometimes makes sensible points about sensible issues. So what he's doing with his absurd exaggerations is blurring the line between what's real and should be taken seriously and what's nonsense. He's telling us it doesn't matter if you make stuff up as everything you read is just garbage. At the risk of becoming a po-faced liberal misery, I'm not sure that's wise. Clarkson plays his part in disintegrating intelligent debate. He also comes across as a bloody idiot, frankly. I'm pretty old-fashioned in believing that language should be used in a way which at least attempts to reflect reality. He could have called the rail issue a middle-class bribe, mocked the SNP for constantly changing tack, and said it was all the biggest load of cobblers since the Elves and the Shoemaker. But communism? Surely, he just makes himself and his argument ridiculous? Disordered. And by doing so encourages his readers to be ridiculous and disordered. The more we do this, the more commentary becomes meaningless, the more we carpet bomb ways of speaking to each other intelligently. During the debate about short-term holiday lets in Scotland, an Airbnb host described licensing plans as a "pogrom". A pogrom is defined as the mass murder of Jews. They debased their own argument; they debased the meaning of pogrom. It disintegrated shared reality. Boris Johnson just called Keir Starmer the EU's 'orange ball-chewing gimp'. Funny? Yes. In the pub, I'd spit my pint out laughing. But when an ex-Prime Minister says this he's telling us: don't care about truth, we need no shared way of debating. Britain is a "police state", Johnson says. Why? Because a woman was jailed for inciting racial hatred after tweeting 'set fire to the hotels' following the Southport murders which sparked mass rioting. Police state? Or justice you disagree with? We hear the same in Scotland. The 'Gestapo' and 'Stasi' would arrest you in your home thanks to anti-smacking laws. Just say you want to beat your kids. Don't invoke totalitarianism. The new Pope, who appears politically centrist, has been dubbed a 'woke Marxist' by leading MAGA commentators. Boris Johnson, who said Britain is a police state (Image: PA) But then MAGA owns the disordered discourse crown. Evidently, nothing comes close to telling the entire world Haitian immigrants were eating people's pets. The same disordered thinking appears in extremist claims that all trans women are rapists, all refugees are economic con-artists, and any criticism of Israel is antisemitic. It's silencing. British talk-show host Kevin Sullivan said after this week's new EU deal: 'I like standing in the non-EU passport lines! I'm proud not to join the Brussels-gang losers.' I guess he means he hated the deal, but rather than say that he claims to like wasting his life in queues. Evidently, much of this is attention-seeking. Much is also motivated by the playground mentality of "owning the libs". Thus you get people attacking the "be kind brigade". Since when was being kind bad? I guess if you're disordered it is. This all creates a society incapable of intelligent conversation. In Scotland today every issue is a crisis. Remember when a bottle return scheme was going to bring the nation to its knees, even though other nations had the same scheme? I'm not saying the legislation was right, I'm just saying we could rediscover an ordered way of expressing ourselves. If you cannot talk to your neighbour, you will hate them, and that way hell lies. Neil Mackay is The Herald's Writer at Large. He's a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, author of both fiction and non-fiction, and a filmmaker and broadcaster. He specialises in intelligence, security, crime, social affairs, cultural commentary, and foreign and domestic politics.
Associated Press
10-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
TransMedics Group (TMDX) Financial Success Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Allegations
SAN FRANCISCO, April 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TransMedics Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMDX) reported blockbuster Q4 2024 earnings in late February 2025, booking $121.6 million in revenue (up 50% year-over-year) and $35.5 million in full-year net income, fueled by surging adoption of its OCS devices. Despite these positive results, TMDX stock continues to trade significantly below its 2024 highs, as the earnings report arrives amid explosive allegations from short-seller Scorpion Capital and mounting legal challenges, including an investor class action lawsuit accusing the company and its senior executives of securities fraud. Hagens Berman is investigating the alleged claims and urges investors who purchased TransMedics shares and suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Apr. 15, 2025 Visit: 844-916-0895 Growth Fueled by Market Dominance On February 27, TransMedics released positive earnings and guidance exceeding analysts' expectations. The company completed 3,715 U.S. OCS cases in 2024, capturing 20.9% market share across heart, lung, and liver transplants—a 58% annual increase. Its logistics fleet now includes 19 aircraft, with two more planned for 2025 to support a projected revenue of $530M-$552M, exceeding Wall Street consensus of $521.62M. But TDMX shares showed a muted reaction to the company's strong Q4 results and remain 58% below 52-week highs. Investors have grown increasingly skeptical about the company's long-term profitability, with concerns around compressing margins and adoption hurdles. The Scorpion Report Investors' fears were exacerbated by a highly critical short report issued by Scorpion Capital on January 10, 2025. The report, titled 'Walk Like An Egyptian: A 'Mafia-Style' Extortion, Racketeering, and Organ Trafficking Scheme Masquerading as a Medical Device Company,' spans 342 pages and alleges severe misconduct, including kickbacks, billing fraud, unreported device failures, off-label misuse, and monopolistic practices. It claims TransMedics is in a 'death spiral' and sets a target price of $0 for the stock. Key allegations in the report include: Racketeering and monopolistic practices tied to its Organ Care System (OCS) technology. Off-label usage and safety concerns regarding its devices. Excessive pricing for bundled services compared to alternatives. Claims of organ trafficking and unethical business practices. Shares plummeted 15% after Scorpion's January 10 report. The TransMedics Group (TDMX) Class Action Adding to the controversy, TransMedics and its executives are now defendants in a securities class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. The complaint alleges that between February 28, 2023, and January 10, 2025—the period encompassing FDA approvals and rapid market expansion—the company misled investors about its business practices. Echoing Scorpion Capital's claims, it accuses TransMedics of: Using kickbacks and coercive tactics to drive revenue growth; Concealing safety issues tied to its OCS devices; Overbilling hospitals while forcing them into bundled service contracts. The lawsuit further claims that these practices subjected TransMedics to heightened regulatory scrutiny, culminating in public allegations from U.S. Representative Paul Gosar in February 2024 about price gouging and resource misappropriation. Hagens Berman's Investigation Prominent class action law firm Hagens Berman is investigating whether TransMedics may have violated the U.S. securities laws. 'We are looking into whether TransMedics' growth was fueled by undisclosed illicit sales practices,' said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you invested in TransMedics and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, submit your losses now » If you'd like more information and answers to frequently asked questions about the TransMedics case and our investigation, read more » Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding TransMedics should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email [email protected]. Contact:
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: 'Eternal Flame' recounts The Bangles' turbulent run as all-female '80s pop sensations
For members of The Bangles, the quintessential all-female band of the 1980s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was an aberration — not just a departure from their rock-influenced roots, but running counter to it. How the quirky single would help propel them to international fame and earn Susanna Hoffs' flirtily darting eyes a place in music history is laid out in a new book, 'Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of The Bangles,' released last month. Author and rock historian Jennifer Otter Bickerdike takes 'the girls' from their origins as a teenage garage band in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley to international stardom, and on to their painful breakup in 1989. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 'Eternal Flame' uses first-person access to three of the band members, photographs, diary entries and other source materials to shed new light on a largely underappreciated band. It gets a rocky start, in part due to excessive footnoting, and the storytelling can be at times choppy or long-winded, but the book leaves the reader with a poignant and more complex picture of The Bangles' difficult road to success. For anyone who binged MTV or frequented the nightclubs of the '80s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was a staple of the era. Scenes of the band's four members — Hoffs, sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson, and Michael Steele — strutting their way across the screen in flashy Egyptian costumes are interspersed with video from a live performance of the song and street scenes of random individuals performing the signature hieroglyphic lope. Behind the scenes, the reader learns, the celebrity singers were longing for recognition as a serious rock band. Vicki Peterson, one of three band members to whom Bickerdike was granted 'unprecedented access' for the book, loved the Beatles, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas & the Papas. Her younger sister Debbi's drumming heroes were Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. Hoffs desired less to be 'the Rock and Roll Audrey Hepburn,' as one music promoter described her, and more the punk-poetess Patti Smith. Steele, who declined to be interviewed for the project, came to The Bangles from the hard-driving Runaways. With 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' 'Manic Monday,' 'Eternal Flame' and two other tunes, The Bangles became the only all-female rock band to sing and play their own instruments on five Top 10 Billboard hits. As they cut their teeth with changing line-ups and hard won gigs, the band encountered radio stations that would only play one girl band at a time and record executives who would encourage them to raise their hemlines and tease their 'dos to new heights. Cutting their first studio album, 'All Over the Place,' in 1984 was a grueling and somewhat demoralizing experience, band members recalled. 'I remember coming home one night and being in tears,' Vicki said. 'I just kept saying, 'How does anyone ever make a second record? Does anyone do that again?'' And the music press could be brutal, too — minimizing their musical talents while inventing rivalries with other all-female bands — particularly the Go-Go's — or nonexistent romantic sparks with Prince, who gave them his 'Manic Monday' to record on their second album, 1986's Different Light. But celebrity was also a rush of opportunities. Singer Cyndi Lauper took a liking to the band and tapped them to open for her 1984 Fun Tour, and Prince surprised audiences on occasion when he would appear unannounced on stage and play with the band. Hoffs calls those occasions 'magical.' After 'Different Light,' with 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' was released, The Bangles opened for rock giants Queen at Slane Castle in Ireland. A year later, their music was part of a movie soundtrack. Ultimately, the band met its end in 1989 amid exhaustion, internal rivalries and artistic differences with their record company. The Petersons describe being summoned to a meeting at their manager's house, where Hoffs and Steele dropped the bomb that they were unhappy. By the end of the conclave, the band was no more — though they did reform in 1998 to record a song for an 'Austin Powers' movie. The Bangles' last show was on Sept. 15, 2019. ___ More AP book reviews:
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: 'Eternal Flame' recounts The Bangles' turbulent run as all-female '80s pop sensations
For members of The Bangles, the quintessential all-female band of the 1980s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was an aberration — not just a departure from their rock-influenced roots, but running counter to it. How the quirky single would help propel them to international fame and earn Susanna Hoffs' flirtily darting eyes a place in music history is laid out in a new book, 'Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of The Bangles,' released last month. Author and rock historian Jennifer Otter Bickerdike takes 'the girls' from their origins as a teenage garage band in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley to international stardom, and on to their painful breakup in 1989. 'Eternal Flame' uses first-person access to three of the band members, photographs, diary entries and other source materials to shed new light on a largely underappreciated band. It gets a rocky start, in part due to excessive footnoting, and the storytelling can be at times choppy or long-winded, but the book leaves the reader with a poignant and more complex picture of The Bangles' difficult road to success. For anyone who binged MTV or frequented the nightclubs of the '80s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was a staple of the era. Scenes of the band's four members — Hoffs, sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson, and Michael Steele — strutting their way across the screen in flashy Egyptian costumes are interspersed with video from a live performance of the song and street scenes of random individuals performing the signature hieroglyphic lope. Behind the scenes, the reader learns, the celebrity singers were longing for recognition as a serious rock band. Vicki Peterson, one of three band members to whom Bickerdike was granted 'unprecedented access' for the book, loved the Beatles, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas & the Papas. Her younger sister Debbi's drumming heroes were Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. Hoffs desired less to be 'the Rock and Roll Audrey Hepburn,' as one music promoter described her, and more the punk-poetess Patti Smith. Steele, who declined to be interviewed for the project, came to The Bangles from the hard-driving Runaways. With 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' 'Manic Monday,' 'Eternal Flame' and two other tunes, The Bangles became the only all-female rock band to sing and play their own instruments on five Top 10 Billboard hits. As they cut their teeth with changing line-ups and hard won gigs, the band encountered radio stations that would only play one girl band at a time and record executives who would encourage them to raise their hemlines and tease their 'dos to new heights. Cutting their first studio album, 'All Over the Place,' in 1984 was a grueling and somewhat demoralizing experience, band members recalled. 'I remember coming home one night and being in tears,' Vicki said. 'I just kept saying, 'How does anyone ever make a second record? Does anyone do that again?'' And the music press could be brutal, too — minimizing their musical talents while inventing rivalries with other all-female bands — particularly the Go-Go's — or nonexistent romantic sparks with Prince, who gave them his 'Manic Monday' to record on their second album, 1986's Different Light. But celebrity was also a rush of opportunities. Singer Cyndi Lauper took a liking to the band and tapped them to open for her 1984 Fun Tour, and Prince surprised audiences on occasion when he would appear unannounced on stage and play with the band. Hoffs calls those occasions 'magical.' After 'Different Light,' with 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' was released, The Bangles opened for rock giants Queen at Slane Castle in Ireland. A year later, their music was part of a movie soundtrack. Ultimately, the band met its end in 1989 amid exhaustion, internal rivalries and artistic differences with their record company. The Petersons describe being summoned to a meeting at their manager's house, where Hoffs and Steele dropped the bomb that they were unhappy. By the end of the conclave, the band was no more — though they did reform in 1998 to record a song for an 'Austin Powers' movie. The Bangles' last show was on Sept. 15, 2019. ___ More AP book reviews: Julie Carr Smyth, The Associated Press
Associated Press
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Book Review: ‘Eternal Flame' recounts The Bangles' turbulent run as all-female ‘80s pop sensations
For members of The Bangles, the quintessential all-female band of the 1980s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was an aberration — not just a departure from their rock-influenced roots, but running counter to it. How the quirky single would help propel them to international fame and earn Susanna Hoffs' flirtily darting eyes a place in music history is laid out in a new book, 'Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of The Bangles,' released last month. Author and rock historian Jennifer Otter Bickerdike takes 'the girls' from their origins as a teenage garage band in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley to international stardom, and on to their painful breakup in 1989. 'Eternal Flame' uses first-person access to three of the band members, photographs, diary entries and other source materials to shed new light on a largely underappreciated band. It gets a rocky start, in part due to excessive footnoting, and the storytelling can be at times choppy or long-winded, but the book leaves the reader with a poignant and more complex picture of The Bangles' difficult road to success. For anyone who binged MTV or frequented the nightclubs of the '80s, 'Walk Like An Egyptian' was a staple of the era. Scenes of the band's four members — Hoffs, sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson, and Michael Steele — strutting their way across the screen in flashy Egyptian costumes are interspersed with video from a live performance of the song and street scenes of random individuals performing the signature hieroglyphic lope. Behind the scenes, the reader learns, the celebrity singers were longing for recognition as a serious rock band. Vicki Peterson, one of three band members to whom Bickerdike was granted 'unprecedented access' for the book, loved the Beatles, The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas & the Papas. Her younger sister Debbi's drumming heroes were Ringo Starr and Charlie Watts. Hoffs desired less to be 'the Rock and Roll Audrey Hepburn,' as one music promoter described her, and more the punk-poetess Patti Smith. Steele, who declined to be interviewed for the project, came to The Bangles from the hard-driving Runaways. With 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' 'Manic Monday,' 'Eternal Flame' and two other tunes, The Bangles became the only all-female rock band to sing and play their own instruments on five Top 10 Billboard hits. As they cut their teeth with changing line-ups and hard won gigs, the band encountered radio stations that would only play one girl band at a time and record executives who would encourage them to raise their hemlines and tease their 'dos to new heights. Cutting their first studio album, 'All Over the Place,' in 1984 was a grueling and somewhat demoralizing experience, band members recalled. 'I remember coming home one night and being in tears,' Vicki said. 'I just kept saying, 'How does anyone ever make a second record? Does anyone do that again?'' And the music press could be brutal, too — minimizing their musical talents while inventing rivalries with other all-female bands — particularly the Go-Go's — or nonexistent romantic sparks with Prince, who gave them his 'Manic Monday' to record on their second album, 1986's Different Light. But celebrity was also a rush of opportunities. Singer Cyndi Lauper took a liking to the band and tapped them to open for her 1984 Fun Tour, and Prince surprised audiences on occasion when he would appear unannounced on stage and play with the band. Hoffs calls those occasions 'magical.' After 'Different Light,' with 'Walk Like an Egyptian,' was released, The Bangles opened for rock giants Queen at Slane Castle in Ireland. A year later, their music was part of a movie soundtrack. Ultimately, the band met its end in 1989 amid exhaustion, internal rivalries and artistic differences with their record company. The Petersons describe being summoned to a meeting at their manager's house, where Hoffs and Steele dropped the bomb that they were unhappy. By the end of the conclave, the band was no more — though they did reform in 1998 to record a song for an 'Austin Powers' movie. The Bangles' last show was on Sept. 15, 2019.
