A Danish Royal Affair

From History Today:

In 1769 the German outsider, Johann Struensee, arrived in Copenhagen as the physician and companion to the deranged Christian VII. By the end of that year he had not only made great political strides in a country that had the most complete absolute monarchy left in Europe, but had also become the lover of the queen, George III’s youngest sister, Caroline Mathilde. With her agreement, and the acquiescence of the king, Struensee took over the running of the state and attempted to transform Denmark into a model of enlightened absolutism. Struensee and Caroline Mathilde had a daughter; radical reforms multiplied; chaos mounted; enemies massed; violence and tragedy ensued.

Now, thanks in part to the surge of popular interest in Scandinavia, the first film to tackle the story has been released. A Royal Affair stars Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen. 

It is a beautiful film, tonally taking its cue from the historical epics of Luchino Visconti. Like these, it builds tension to gathering disaster with visual clues. The director, Nikolaj Arcel, is creditably true to the facts. At no point does he seriously deviate from the historical record. But this is a feature film not a documentary attempt to recreate the past and, like every historical fiction, it is therefore also necessarily a portrait of the present. 

Caroline Flint

From the Guardian - and the fall out from the article "Labour WAGS":

Caroline Flint said today that she had resigned as a minister after her loyalty was questioned by Gordon Brown.

Flint quit as Europe minister last week, accusing the prime minister of using women in his government as "female window dressing" and of running a two-tier government.

Asked if she thought the prime minister was "sexist", she said: "I think in politics women are in a minority and men dominate at every level. I just think we need to be very active to make sure we hear women's voices as well."

Labour WAGs

From the Mail Online:

A group of 'Blair Babes' stands accused today of being the catalyst behind the crisis engulfing Gordon Brown.

Around Westminster they are known as 'the Sisterhood' - a body of female Labour MPs more loyal to each other than their party.

Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, Beverley Hughes, Patricia Hewitt, Caroline Flint, Margaret Hodge and Tessa Jowell were at their core; the most highly-promoted - some would argue over-promoted - beneficiaries of the controversial 'women-only' candidate shortlists which saw 101 female Labour MPs elected in Tony Blair's May 1997 general election victory.

But some of the female Labour grandees are now accused of being the driving force behind the unravelling of Mr Brown's premiership.

Back in the halcyon days of New Labour, they were happy to pose en masse for photographs as 'Blair's Babes'. How they all loved Tony and basked in the warmth of his patronage.

But when he stood down two years ago, the Blairite Sisters grew disgruntled at the diminished role women were given in Gordon Brown's Cabinet.

And so they came to acquire a new nickname: The WAGs - the oh-so-witty acronym that played on the 'Wives And Girlfriends' of overpaid footballers tag and which stood for 'Women Against Gordon'.

Now, months of seething rancour and regular WAGs' 'whingeing sessions' over pesto and pasta meals washed down with glasses of chianti coalesced into something more lethal - a concerted assassination attempt on the Prime Minister. The Night of the Long Stilettos.