The Electric Pitchfork

'Tenants on our own land': New Zealand bans sale of homes to foreign buyers The Harbour & Suburbs of Auckland Law aims to boost housing affordability after prices in some areas rise by over 75% The  New Zealand  government has banned the sale of existing homes to foreign buyers, saying New Zealanders were sick of being “tenants in our own land”. Associate minister of finance David Parker said the ban would mean housing would become more affordable for locals, and supply would increase. “We think the market for New Zealand homes and farms should be set by New Zealand buyers, not overseas buyers,” said Parker in an interview with the Guardian. “That is to benefit New Zealanders who have their shoulder to the wheel of the New Zealand economy, pay tax here, have families here. We don’t think they should be outbid by wealthier people from overseas.” In a speech to parliament on Wednesday he said: “We should not be tenants in our own land.” Only a ...

How Aretha Franklin, soul sister-in-chief, became a civil rights heroine Aretha Franklin didn’t just sing with the angels, she brought them down to the street corner How many voices could compete with hers? It may be true that the “queen of soul” emerged from the shadow of the “queen of gospel”, Mahalia Jackson, but there was an even more elemental quality to Aretha Franklin’s singing. Mahalia walked on clouds with the angels; Aretha brought the angels down to the street corner. Even a performer as charismatic as Otis Redding had to bow down in her presence. We may love his recording of  Respect  — he wrote it, after all — yet even his most devoted fans would have to concede that Franklin’s version, spitting fire and venom, took the song to another level. A feminist anthem was born, and Aretha was its midwife. Her peak years coincided with a pivotal moment  in American cultural history. That impressive stage persona represented the self-assurance and independ...

Aretha Franklin Obituary Peerless if sometimes ‘difficult’ diva known as the Queen of Soul whose voice tingled spines and made presidents cry “American history wells up when Aretha sings,” Barack Obama observed after witnessing Aretha Franklin’s performance at The Kennedy Center in Washington in 2015. Her voice certainly had the power to make the presidential tear ducts well up; during the concert Obama wept openly as she sang her soulful 1967 hit  (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman . A long-time fan, Obama also booked Franklin to sing at his first inauguration, but he was far from the only incumbent of the White House to be moved by the emotional heft of Franklin’s spine-tingling voice. Jimmy Carter boogied in the balcony while she sang; Bill Clinton made a personal request for her to perform at his inauguration concert; and although Franklin was a lifelong Democrat, in  2005 George W Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest ...

SYRIA CRISIS | THE INSIDE STORY Syria: Anthony Seldon on ten days that changed the world Assad’s chemical attack on his own people in August 2013 was a clear red line. Obama and Cameron David Cameron  tried to win support for military action, but as Anthony Seldon’s blow-by-blow account reveals, opposition grew and resolve faded. After their failure, came the rise of Russia and Trump Five years ago this month a sequence of events spread over 10 days shook the established world order. Their long-term impact can be compared to 9/11 or the financial crash of 2008. At stake was much more than the moral authority of the West. The world we live in today is powerfully shaped by the events of those 10 days in 2013 and will be for many years to come. Five years on, from contemporary notes and witness accounts, we can now piece together exactly what happened, why the promise of resolute action crumbled and who was to blame. On Wednesday, August 21, 2013, President Basha...