Author: damazah@gmail.com

What kind of play is The Cherry Orchard? As a new production starring Helen Hunt and Kenneth Branagh beckons in Stratford, I am reminded that it is a question people have been asking since the play’s inception. Chekhov himself wrote that what had emerged in his play was “not a drama but a comedy, in places almost a farce”. Stanislavski, who directed the Moscow premiere in 1904, violently disagreed. “It is a tragedy,” he told Chekhov, “whatever prospect of a better life you hold out in the last act.”While the debate continues, I hope we shall not be told by…

The winners of the 2026/27 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season will receive a minimum prize money of ₦1 billion, the biggest financial reward ever offered in Nigerian domestic football, following a series of far-reaching reforms unveiled by the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The announcement was made on Tuesday by NSC Chairman Shehu Dikko after a high-level strategic meeting with the commission’s leadership and the NFF at the NSC headquarters in Abuja. Mr Dikko described the decision as part of a broader plan to transform Nigerian football through improved player welfare, stricter professional standards,…

• Tinubu assures Miebach of Nigerian youths’ competence Deji Elumoye in Abuja Mastercard’s Global Chief Executive Officer, Michael Miebach, has said the company is bringing into the Nigerian economy $2 billion in foreign exchange, while preventing nearly $200 million in fraudulent financial activities. Miebach spoke yesterday, when he led a delegation from the company to President Bola Tinubu at State House, Abuja. The Mastercard CEO also assured Tinubu of his company’s commitment to helping to achieve the administration’s economic reforms. Tinubu told the delegation that Nigeria’s teeming youth population was the country’s greatest asset, assuring foreign investors of a ready-to-learn,…

• Akpabio pledges safeguards to prevent abuse by political office holders  •Governors demand substantial control of appointment process • Funding still contentious issue amid 3% FAAC revenue proposal   •Senate defers debate, mourns deceased rep • N’Assembly to make security funding first-line charge, says Kalu  •Insists state police not  licence for political capture Emmanuel Addeh, Chuks Okocha, Sunday Aborisade and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja President Bola Tinubu yesterday formally transmitted the proposed State Police Bill to the Senate, setting the stage for a major overhaul of Nigeria’s policing architecture, as the Upper Chamber signalled their readiness to fast-track consideration of the…

Ebere Nwoji Mutual Benefit Insurance Plc, has decried Nigeria’s credit gap in Nigeria, revealing that despite increasing financial inclusiveness witnessed in the country, only 6 per cent of the population has access to credit through formal financial institutions. The company said this in a report, which highlighted  that although more than 64 per cent of Nigerian adults were  financially included, formal credit penetration remained significantly low.  “Credit to the Nigerian private sector stands at just 13.1 per cent of gross domestic products (GDP), well below peer African economies such as Kenya and South Africa,” the report stated. According to the underwriting firm, findings point to persistent barriers to credit access for households, entrepreneurs and small…

Roughly 500,000 Americans suffer nerve injuries that require treatment each year, whether from an errant attempt to hack out an avocado pit or an unfortunate woodworking accident. Many will never get full feeling back in their fingers. But a startup has developed a thick and sticky liquid that could change that, and it’s begun deploying it with surgeons in the US.French firm Tissium is working to replace and supplement medical stitches with a liquid that attaches to tissue when exposed to light. A biopolymer made of fatty acid and glycerol—both of which naturally occur in the body—the liquid acts like…

Andy Burnham has moved a step closer to becoming prime minister after Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said he would not stand in a Labour leadership contest.Jones, who had been mooted as a candidate who could put Burnham’s ideas to a test in a race, told Sky News that he had a “reassuring conversation” with the newly elected MP for Makerfield about his economic policy plans.He told Sky’s Beth Rigby that he was confident Burnham understood the fiscal rules, which Burnham has already committed to abiding by should be come to power.The move makes Burnham’s coronation…

There is “significantly more” ancient woodland in Hertfordshire than previously recorded, new information confirmed.The Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT) said advancements in digital mapping and identification showed 50% more documented sites than originally compiled in an inventory of ancient woodland between 1981 and 1992.It said the data submitted to Natural England would help to protect against future development and to improve management of sites for forestry and leisure.The trust’s records centre manager, Alex Waechter, said: “We have a chance to combat the losses and fragmentation of the past two centuries through the creation of new linking habitats and wildlife…

AJ Dybantsa was the No 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft on Tuesday night.The Washington Wizards selected Dybantsa over Kansas guard Darryn Peterson and Duke forward Cameron Boozer, who followed at No 2 and No 3 respectively for Utah Jazz and Memphis Grizzlies. Dybantsa is a forward who led the nation in scoring in his one season at Brigham Young University. He averaged 25.5 points, highlighted by a 43-point effort that broke BYU’s freshman scoring record, and was the first of a record-tying eight straight college freshman taken to begin the draft.At 6ft 9in and 217lbs Dybantsa, who grew…

Camille Farrah Lenain’s tender photo book Made of Smokeless Fire was inspired by grief for her gay uncle Farid. ‘He left without answering the questions I had for him,’ she says Continue reading…