Rishi Sunak, the man who could be Britain’s next prime minister, has many nicknames. He is called “Dishy Rishi” because he was voted Britain’s “sexiest” MP. “Fittest” would have been more appropriate for the 42-year-old, but then the rival he beat for this dubious distinction was the middle-aged Labour Party leader Keir Starmer. He is called “Snake Sunak” by outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson’s supporters for being “disloyal” and resigning as chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), thus precipitating Johnson’s downfall. He is also “Rishi Rich” after the cartoon character “Richie Rich” because he is so rich. His wife, Akshata, is even richer. She has a 0.91 per cent stake in Infosys, founded by her father, N.R. Narayana Murthy. It is worth £700 million, making her richer than the queen.
The two rivals vying for Conservative Party leadership to succeed Boris Johnson are Sunak and Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Truss, 47, the current foreign secretary who projects herself as Margaret Thatcher 2.0. Assessing the two gladiators, Malcolm Rifkind, who served in the cabinets of Thatcher and John Major, says, “Compared with Johnson, Sunak demonstrated a high degree of competence, integrity, and bold but sensitive leadership. Truss has no powers of oratory, little use of humour and no obvious charisma. However, she is seen as gutsy and determined.” Long ago, one of her three younger brothers said that Truss was so competitive as a child that she would abandon playing family board games rather than risk losing. She has described herself as the “bossy elder sister”.
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Angry, Young America
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We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
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A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
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Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
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THE MANGO HUNTERS
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BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.
