Maroushka Monro obituary
My friend Maroushka Monro, who has died aged 78, was a writer, poet, counsellor and at one time an agony aunt.In the booming magazine world of the 1980s, her writing talent earned her a job assisting Katie Boyle, the agony aunt at TV Times.Then she was headhunted by the teen magazine Just Seventeen, where for three years, from 1988 until 1991, she put heart and soul into her role as their agony aunt.She would typically receive up to 800 letters a week, and would frequently respond directly and personally to her readers.Maroushka was forced to relinquish her job because of illness, in the form of the highly debilitating condition spasmodic torticollis, which caused her head to turn rigidly to one side.
Instead she focused on writing, and her book Talking About Anorexia – How to Cope With Life Without Starving was published by Sheldon Press in 1992 to considerable acclaim.Born in Carshalton, Surrey, to Jewish parents, Beila (nee Cohen), a civil servant, and Israel (“Dick”) Collett, a traditional East End tailor, she was originally named Maureen, but her “Boobah” (her Yiddish term for Grandma) preferred the more endearing “Maroushka”, and that stuck.She went to Burlington junior school, and at secondary level she excelled at athletics, representing her county at long jump and running in the early 1960s.She attended the College for Distributive Trades in London (now the London College of Communication), and her interest in style and fashion brought her work dressing Oxford Street windows.With her beautiful thick hair, she was often used as a model in Vidal Sassoon’s Bond Street salon.
Her marriage in 1969 to Jeff Monro later ended in divorce.The wonderful poetry that Maroushka began writing in her 30s highlights her playfulness and makes references to an over-ordered childhood, then rebellion later on, but not to the anorexia that dogged her life and which, ultimately, was a factor in her death.She shared her writing at Survivors Poetry, a space specifically run by and for survivors of mental distress.A collection, A Pearl of Wisdom from Fritz, was published in 2000.In 1993, despite the torticollis, Maroushka qualified as a counsellor and began to co-run groups from home.
Meanwhile family and friends funded an invasive neurological operation in Montreal.This brought considerable relief, but the time spent recovering from it meant that she was unable to pursue her counselling career further.Maroushka was always most fulfilled when being creative and helping others, but worsening health and the death of both her parents in close succession caused her long-term distress, and her creative contributions were limited to highly imaginative clothes design ideas and letters to friends.She is survived by her sister, Sheila.
Tough talk from Streeting – but he still needs a deal with big pharma
Wes Streeting gets top marks for fighting talk in his battle with the pharmaceutical companies over the price of prescription medicines. After the health secretary walked away from talks with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) on Friday, he stuck the boot in. The “shortsighted” pharma industry had rejected “a serious and generous” offer, he said. It should be more “collaborative” instead of making “unaffordable” demands. The government could not allow British patients and taxpayers to be ripped off
Post-Brexit licences for exporting food to EU cost UK firms up to £65m last year
UK companies spent up to £65m last year on licences to export food and agricultural products to the EU – costs that the government is promising to eliminate as part of a new deal to be agreed by 2027.Government figures released on Tuesday showed it issued 328,727 such licences last year, at a cost of between £113 and £200 each. That would put the total cost to business at somewhere between £37m and £65m.Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of European negotiations, will on Wednesday pledge to eliminate such costs as he promises a new agreement with the EU in the next 18 months.In an event at the Spectator offices in London to be hosted by the leading Brexiter Michael Gove, Thomas-Symonds will make a vocally political argument for becoming closer to the EU
Is the AI boom finally starting to slow down?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape.Drive down the 280 freeway in San Francisco and you might believe AI is everywhere, and everything. Nearly every billboard advertises an AI related product: “We’ve Automated 2,412 BDRs.” “All that AI and still no ROI?” “Cheap on-demand GPU clusters.” It’s hard to know if you’re interpreting the industry jargon correctly while zooming past in your vehicle
A day with the Revenge Porn Helpline: ‘You can sense the callers’ desperation’
Intimate image abuse is a crisis in the UK – with a fortyfold increase in calls to this service since it opened in 2015. Thankfully, there are effective ways to help those being victimisedBy midday, Jessica has dealt with five calls from highly distressed young women in their 20s, all close to tears or crying at the start of the conversations. She absorbs their alarm calmly, prompting them with questions, making sympathetic noises into her headset as she digests the situation. “Are these images sexual in nature?” she asks the last woman she speaks to before lunch. “Do you want to tell me a bit about what happened?” She begins compiling a tidy set of bullet points in ballpoint pen
Stan to show more ads despite price hike amid ‘extraordinary’ Premier League impact
Streaming provider Stan is set to introduce more advertisements on its sporting broadcasts despite recently raising its price by $5 per month, as it enjoys an increase of around 100,000 subscribers directly thanks to its acquisition of the Premier League rights from Optus.The chief executive of its parent company Nine Entertainment, Matt Stanton, confirmed in Nine’s annual results briefing on Wednesday there will be no more Premier League matches on free-to-air after this Saturday’s clash between Chelsea and Fulham, despite outstanding audience numbers in the first two weeks.Last weekend’s 9.30pm AEST clash between Manchester City and Tottenham attracted an average audience of 567,000 across Nine and Stan, with a reach of over 1.5m, according to Stanton
Coco Gauff digs deep to survive Ajla Tomljanović test in US Open marathon
Coco Gauff survived a shaky serving performance to battle past Ajla Tomljanović in the first round of the US Open, winning 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5 after 2hr 57min on Tuesday night.The No 3 seed finished with 10 double faults, was broken six times and squandered a string of opportunities to close the contest earlier, but conjured enough resilience to scrape into round two under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium.Gauff appeared in control after winning five of six games from a break down to take the opener and twice leading by a break in the second. Yet she faltered when serving for the match at 5-4 in the third, conceding two double faults and a pair of forehand errors as Tomljanović levelled at 5-5.The 21-year-old American responded instantly, breaking back before sealing victory at her second attempt with a crisp backhand winner down the line, lifting her arms to the crowd in relief as much as celebration
Trump is out to end the Fed’s autonomy. Here’s how he’s trying to get his way
Debenhams may sell Pretty Little Thing and shut distribution hub
Who is Lisa Cook, the Fed governor facing removal by Trump?
More pain for Reeves as government borrowing cost nears 27-year high
M&S brings Australia’s national treat the lamington to UK high street
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook to sue Trump administration over its attempt to fire her