Helen Hickey

(Published in The Malay Mail on 24 May) Expect the unexpected is what is said about the Cannes Film Festival, now in its 67th year. And the ‘unexpected’ is certainly what I experienced on Sunday evening while watching “Welcome to New York”, a film screened in Cannes the previous night and released straight to video on demand here in France. Gérard Depardieu’s bearlike grunting and slapping of naked boobs and derrières for the first 20 minutes, had me jumping from the comfort

(Published in The Malay Mail on 18 May 2014) I’m not, of course, suggesting that she actually has balls, but more that someone else has had the balls, to give someone who doesn’t possess balls in the literal sense, a job for which one must definitely have balls (both of the courage and dangly type). Have I lost you in all this ball talk? Stay with me, because something very special has just happened in the male-dominated, testosterone filled world of football: Helena Costa, 3

(Published in The Malay Mail 14 May 2014) Clayton Lockett’s botched execution in late April received worldwide condemnation. Horrified onlookers at the Oklahoma prison saw him writhe in pain for more than 40 minutes, or at least until the prison staff had the decency to draw the curtain to hide him from view. If you insist on the death penalty, as America still does for people like Lockett, a convicted murderer and rapist, at least get the job done properly. “Torturing to dea

(Published in The Malay Mail on 27 April 2014) It’s usually the guests that pitch up knackered and short-tempered after a hard day’s drive to their ski resort. But from the look on our chalet boy’s face, I could tell the day had not been kind to him. “I’m late, sorry”, he puffed out as he made the last steps up the snow-coated hill to greet us. “I’ve had to deal with the small issue of two large suitcases left outside your chalet.” The family who had checked out that morning