Latest news with #post-WorldWarOne
The National
22-05-2025
- Business
- The National
I agree with Tom Hunter that indy Scotland should emulate Singapore
That mega-successful city-state, founded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles, had free trade at its core, at a time when economists like Adam Smith had refuted the mercantilist nonsense of tariffs, and the idea of free trade as our natural right had not been crushed, post-World War One, by the dogma that only the state could grant rights. READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Saturday's far-right counter-protests in Scotland Of the larger pro-indy parties, Alba seems to be on the right track, rejecting the EU's incorrigible protectionism and focusing on the European Free Trade Association. As the Trump tariff fiasco has highlighted, protectionism hurts consumers most. Only exporters benefit from it, with their powerful lobbies constantly urging governments to grant them privileges. The greatest ever send-up of this was Frederic Bastiat's spoof petition by candle-makers to France's Chamber of Deputies, urging them to stymie that intolerable competitor: the sun! George Morton Rosyth
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Dope Girls' star Julianne Nicholson celebrates the 'punk rock' moment that sets off postwar drama
While most post-war movies and TV shows depict the women left at home as lost souls waiting for the men in their lives to return, the new show Dope Girls (on CTV Drama Channel, the CTV app and Crave in Canada) tells a different story about how women gained independence in wartime. Starring Julianne Nicholson, Eliza Scanlen, Umi Myers and Eilidh Fisher, the six-part series from Bad Wolf (Doctor Who) and Sony Pictures Television takes us to 1918 London, with the boom of Soho nightlife and the bohemian artist lifestyle. In the first episode we meet Kate Galloway (Nicholson), a recently widowed mother of a teenage daughter, Evie (Fisher), who was working at a butcher shop in an small village. That's until the men returned from war, going back to their jobs and bumping women back into their homes. But Kate finds out that her husband left her with a lot of debt, which leads her to London to reconnect with her estranged older daughter, Billie (Myers), in need of a place to stay with Evie. Billie works as a dancer in a nightclub, and while there's a lot of tension between her and her mother, including having a younger sister she never knew about, Kate persuades Billie to work with her to open her own nightclub, the 33. Meanwhile Violet Davies (Scanlen) becomes one of the first ever female officers in the City of London Constabulary police force, and gets assigned to investigate London's criminal underworld. That includes getting a job at the 33, but she ends up getting closer to the women at the club. Violet is also grieving the loss of her sister, who died from drugs, and she carries the guilt of not doing more to prevent her sister's death. Nicholson highlighted that a "huge draw" to be part of Dope Girl was that this series, created and written by Polly Stenham, allows the women's side of a post-World War One story to be told, where we see women taking up traditionally male spaces on screen. "The men are coming back and oftentimes we think of that as being purely love and reunion, but women have found themselves out of their homes, in the workforce, independent, and now they're all, for the most part, going back into the kitchen, into the home caretaking mode. And that sucks!," Nicholson told Yahoo Canada. "So it's fun to be able to sort of play in that world and show this other version of what might have been happening at the time." But one of the particularly fascinating story elements is this relationship between Billie and Kate, and how their relationship can move forward after being estranged for years. "Umi, who plays Billie, is such a talent and so strong and vulnerable at the same time," Nicholson said. "We don't explore necessarily the whole of their story on camera, but I had a very clear idea of leaving her, Kate always thought she would ... be able to come back for her, and her life circumstances changed, and she wasn't able to. And now it's all these years later, but it's been her big regret" "It's the final straw that pushes her back to her, but it's very complicated. I know Umi has shared that in Billie's mind, one of the reasons I left her was because she was not white, which is very hard to hear, and feel abandoned as she was. So it was a very rich history that they share, and I found it very moving to play those scenes with Umi and explore the potential of finding their way back to each other." A particularly impactful scene that really sets the tone for show broadly is one moment where we see Kate, Evie and Bille among the people in London partying on Armistice day. That includes one moment where Kate is in the fountain in Trafalgar Square, dressed in a blood-soaked outfit with angel wings. "It felt really special to be able to recreate, just using your imagination, thinking back to that time, that place, what it must have felt like on the day," Nicholson said. "It just felt very alive and very moving and very punk rock in a way that ... you feel throughout the rest of the series. It felt like a great and sort of exciting and abrupt way to jump into that part of our storytelling. I loved it." "I mean, come on, with wings, drenched in blood, it all came together for me. It was very exciting." But maybe even more beautiful than that image of Nicholson's character is the moment when Kate, Evie and Bille walk away from that scene together, with each of them looking like they've just been able to be released from any inhibitions. "It just feels so raw," Nicholson said. "I feel like so much of this show, just feels like people who don't have the energy to put on an act anymore." "It's about survival, and so it just gets rough immediately, and sort of carries throughout. Even for the good girl in the uniform." That "good girl in uniform," or as actor Scanlen described her, "good girl gone bad," is Violet. Scanlen highlighted that it was particularly interesting to explore her world as one of the first women in this traditionally made space of policing. "Violet's such a fun character to play, being part of the police force and during the war, because ... it wasn't until when the war ended that they were brought on as a kind of experiment," Scanlen said. "It was just a very interesting world for me to explore, interesting to think about women in that space, and how they used their femininity as a way to enter spaces that men couldn't necessarily do so expertly in plain clothes." But at the core of everything Violet does is this connection to her sister, and the grief of losing her. "For Violet, her sister was her whole world, and so I think a lot of what she does in the show is informed by her loss," Scanlen said. "And as much as she tries to convince herself that it's her duty to serve her country, ... but I think under the guise of that is regret and self-blame for what happened to her sister. It is the driving force for her." "It's a story of survival too. She's a lone wolf. She comes from Northern England to start a new life and have a future, and I think her moral compass is compromised many times in this show, but the North Star for her is her sister." With interesting characters and a strong group of women leading this story of nightclubs, drugs and gangs, Dope Girls is a riveting series worth watching.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Dope Girls' star Julianne Nicholson on the brilliant 'punk rock' scene that sets the tone for post-World War One London show
Created and written by the esteemed Polly Stenham, produced by Bad Wolf (Doctor Who) and Sony Pictures Television, Dope Girls tells a story of post-World War One London, focusing on the stories of women often left out of what we hear, and see, from that time. Starring Julianne Nicholson, Eliza Scanlen, Umi Myers and Eilidh Fisher, the six-episode series is centred around Kate Galloway (Nicholson), a recently widowed mother who leans into the boom of nightlife to establish her own nightclub. Meanwhile, Scanlen's character, Violet Davies, is one of the London Constabulary's first ever female officers, assignment to go undercover to investigate the city's underworld. This includes getting a job as a hostess at Kate's club. Speaking to Yahoo Canada, Nicholson and Scanlen spoke about portraying women making their mark on post-war, and a particularly "punk rock" scene in the fountain in Trafalgar Square that's a great way to establish the tone for the rest of the season. In Canada, Dope Girls air Mondays on CTV Drama Channel, and the CTV app, and is available to stream on Crave the next day. There's something um that I think comes through, I think right from the beginning is so core, which is that we're getting to see women. In traditionally male spaces in a traditionally male centered timeline and time frame in history, um, was there something particularly attractive about being able to take on a story that is going to show people, I think, a different side of this time period than we're used to seeing? Yeah, it was a huge draw to sort of show the women's side of the story. You know, the men are coming back and oftentimes we think of that as being purely, you know, love and reunion, but You know, women have found themselves out of their homes, in the workforce, independent, and now they're all, you know, for the most part going back into the kitchen, into the home caretaking mode. And that sucks. Um, and so it's fun to be able to sort of, um, play in that world and, and show this other version of, of what might have been happening at the time. Violet's such a fun character to play, um, being part of the police force, and during the war, because there were no men. Um, women did volunteer at the police force and then it was until when the war ended that they were brought out brought on as a kind of experiment and um. Yeah, it was I I think it was a just a very interesting world for me to explore, interesting to think about women, um, in that space and how. They used their femininity as a way to enter spaces that men Um, couldn't necessarily do, uh, so expertly in plain clothes. Julianne, I have to ask about that really kind of brilliant scene, um, in the fountain in Fowler Square, because I think it's such a beautiful moment. I loved that volume stage stuff, that's what they call volume stage, I was reminded today, and it's basically like a great big IMAX screen. I mean, it's like 40 ft tall and wraps around the whole room. And it really just brought a different level of energy to everything. I mean, it felt really special to be able to recreate. I mean, just using your imagination, thinking back to that time, that place, what it must have felt like on the day. So to be able to have these incredible sort of background supporting artists, having these full on stories around us. Um, it just felt very alive and very moving and very punk rock in a way that I feel like you feel throughout the rest of the series. It felt like a great and sort of Um, exciting and abrupt way to to jump into that part of our storytelling. I loved it. I mean, come on, with wings drenched in blood, like it was all, it all came together for me. It was very exciting and just like visually, it was so cool. Yeah. I also even like you like walking out of that scene with, you know, Billy and your daughter, I think is also such an interesting moment and just how they carried themselves after. I was like, oh, this whole moment is phenomenal. I know, I, I love that too, where they just feel like. I, it just feels so raw. I feel like so much of this of this show just feels like people who who don't have the energy to put on an act anymore. It's about survival and so it just gets rough immediately and sort of carries through throughout. Even, even for the good girl in the in the uniform, exactly. Um, as you, I think for your character, something that's really interesting, and I was really kind of interested in figuring out and finding the, the hooks was, um, this kind of, um, clear trauma relationship she has to what happened with her sister, which I think is an interesting kind of element to add. She's someone who You know, feels this desperation to kind of serve in the way that she wants to, but she has this kind of other element that in some ways, um, her superiors kind of use against her in some ways, in some capacities in some moments. And what was it like to have that really interesting kind of element of of her past to be able to kind of use to inform some of the character? Yeah, I think that, I mean, Violet, for Violet, her sister was her whole world and so I think a lot of what she does in the show informed, is informed by, Her loss and um. As much as she tries to convince herself that it's her duty to serve her country. I think also, I'm sure that women at the time too, didn't feel like they had the same opportunities to kind of like serve their country too. She feels a, she feels a certain patriotism for her country. Um, but I think under the guise of that is uh. Uh, regret and, um, self blame for what happened to her sister. Um, so it's, yeah, it is the driving force for her and. Yeah, it's a story of survival too. She's, she's a lone wolf. Julian, for you, um, your character and Billy's relationship is obviously very interesting to see how that develops and this need for Kate to kind of come back and say, You know, kind of like I need to stay here. I need your help. It's like, this is the only place she has to go and to see that interesting relationship and Billy kind of explore this mother that left and she lost contact with. Can you tell me a little bit about really being able to kind of dive into that kind of interesting element of the character? Yeah, one of the things I love about the show is how it dives into the diversity of Soho in that time and, you know, different. You know, different walks of life, different ages, different sexual preferences, different color of skin. Like that was a very beautiful world to explore. And um Umi, who plays Billy is such a talent and so strong and vulnerable at the same time. And it's a very, you know, we don't explore necessarily the whole of their story on camera, but we had a very clear, I had a very clear idea of of leaving her. Kate always thought she would come back for her, be able to come back for her, and her life circumstances changed, and she wasn't able to, and now it's all these years later, but it's been her big regret. She thinks about her in my mind every single day. And so it's, it's the final straw that pushes her back to. Her, but it's very complicated. I know Umi has shared that in Billy's mind, one of the reasons I left her was because she was not white, which is very hard to hear and feels, you know, abandoned as she was. So it was a very rich history that they share, um, and I found it very moving to play those scenes with Ui and explore the potential of finding their way back to each other.
