Political Differences Begin In The Brain (So There’s Probably No Bridging Them)

One example: “Tough-on-crime, pro-military conservatives have a more pronounced startle reflex after hearing a sudden loud noise. They also show stronger skin responses when shown threatening images and look at them more rapidly and for longer.” Says one leading researcher, “One of the things we’re trying to get people to realise is that those who disagree with them politically really do experience the world in a different fashion.”

Experimental Author Christine Brooke-Rose, 89

“The author of more than a dozen novels, as well as short stories, essays and criticism, Ms. Brooke-Rose was one of relatively few Britons to maintain a long association with experimental fiction. Her stylistic techniques – playful, polyglot, punning, postmodern and slyly self-referential – are more typically associated with writers of the French Nouveau Roman school.”

Johannesburg’s Two Professional Dance Companies Merge

“The South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) – formed in 2001 by dancers after the closure of the State Theatre Ballet – and Mzansi Productions, a classically based contemporary dance company … founded in 2008,” are combining resources (not least, public funding) to create a classically-based troupe that can work in contemporary and African genres as well.

Now Even Israelis Are Criticizing Habima’s Plan To Perform At Shakespeare’s Globe

“Ilan Ronen, Habima’s artistic director, speaking in Tel Aviv said: ‘In Israel they are saying, we shouldn’t take this play [The Merchant of Venice] and perform it at all, they think of it as an anti-semitic play. We are under pressure from both sides. I don’t see the play as anti-semitic, it deals with racism, and xenophobia.”