Donor who has given £12m to Reform UK had previously wanted Nigel Farage to keep open mind about deal with Conservatives
Christopher Harborne, the ultra-wealthy political donor who has given £12m to Reform UK, has told the Guardian he is “no longer” interested in a Reform-Conservative pact before the next general election.
A possible collaboration between Reform and the Conservative party had been an important aspect of discussions about donations between Harborne and senior figures including Nigel Farage, sources familiar with the conversations said.
Continue reading...Actor penned scathing essay for the New York Times, criticising show’s portrayal of her and sharing she’s received ‘threatening’ messages since it aired
Daryl Hannah has attacked Ryan Murphy’s smash hit TV series Love Story in an essay for the New York Times.
The much-watched drama, which tells of the romance between John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, features Hannah as a character, played by Dree Hemingway. Hannah and JFK Jr were in a relationship in the early 1990s.
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Before digital fonts and the ability to reproduce graphics on a large scale, there were sign painters. Today, printers can spit out countless posters and ads, but there was a time when hand-painted promotional signage was needed for retail windows, and business names were often rendered just the same. Of course, it’s a trade that virtually died out with the advent of new technologies, which made it cheaper and faster to produce public messaging. In the way of LPs and film cameras, though, just because there were new methods in daily use, it certainly doesn’t mean that the art form doesn’t live on.
A new book published by Letterform Archive, Lettres Décoratives: A Century of French Sign Painters’ Alphabets, celebrates the vivacity and timelessness of French sign painting from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Compiled from lithograph portfolios, which range from 1875 to around 1932, the volume includes more than 150 full-color reproductions of these bold lettering samples. These portfolios once served as catalogue-like albums, providing inspiration for styles and motifs that could be translated onto large billboards and small signage alike.

While decorative painting had been around long before embellished lettering came into vogue, it took a while to catch on. “Only in the nineteenth century did painters make alphabets into primary decorative elements,” writes sign painter Morgane Côme in the introduction. “Indeed even then, many of the letters painted on signboards, canvas awnings, and vehicles remained simple in form, following inherited models of Roman square capitals and modern variants used in printing type. The new demand for eye-catching signs called for significant change in perspective.”
Explore more in your own copy, which you can grab from the Colossal Shop.







Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article ‘Lettres Décoratives’ Is a Celebration of Fin de Siècle Sign Painters’ Vibrant Letterforms appeared first on Colossal.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - De afgelopen week was "exemplarisch" voor de zwakke positie die de Europese Unie heeft op het wereldtoneel, zei Rob Jetten. Het ging in zijn wekelijkse persconferentie over de uiteenlopende standpunten van EU-landen rond de oorlog in Iran. "Wil Europa de taal van de macht leren spreken en serieus meedoen op het wereldtoneel, dan zal ook op dit vlak de Europese samenwerking aanzienlijk moeten verbeteren."
De Spaanse premier Pedro Sánchez is kritisch over de aanval van de VS, terwijl de Duitse bondskanselier Friedrich Merz in het Witte Huis zei: "Wij zijn het eens over het wegkrijgen van het vreselijke Iraanse regime."
Jetten: "In de snel veranderende geopolitieke wereldorde is het een gemis dat Europa er zo lang over doet om tot een gezamenlijk standpunt te komen." Na zijn kennismakingsbezoek met EU-kopstukken van afgelopen week concludeert hij: "Het is een worsteling die breed in Brussel wordt gevoeld."