Talk Fuse

    Culture

    Culture covers the stories that shape how we express ourselves and connect with one another. From film festivals and entertainment to social movements and artistic endeavour, these stories reflect the values, conversations and creativity that define our communities. Whether it's a new film project breaking ground, a performer taking their work to new audiences, or society grappling with important questions about identity and behaviour, culture encompasses the ways we live and the narratives we tell.

    This topic matters because culture is often where change begins. The entertainment industry responds to shifting tastes whilst simultaneously influencing them. Artists and creators challenge conventions, spark conversations, and hold up mirrors to society. Social and cultural movements highlight the issues that resonate with people's lives and futures.

    Culture also reflects broader trends in how we consume and engage with content and ideas. From streaming platforms to live performance, from traditional institutions to emerging voices online, the stories documented here chronicle the evolving landscape of how we entertain, educate and challenge ourselves.

    • Barbra Streisand welcomes Rosie O’Donnell back to television

      Barbra Streisand sent Rosie O’Donnell a warm personal message welcoming her back to television as O’Donnell guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the week, a gesture O’Donnell shared publicly and described as deeply touching given her long-standing admiration for the singer. The exchange added a sentimental note to O’Donnell’s return to the small screen, underscoring the…

    • Trade unions vow to fight against single-sex spaces

      Eight trade unions, including Unison, Unite and the National Union of Students, have voiced strong opposition to new Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance on single-sex spaces and pledged to resist its implementation. The code of practice, which came into force earlier this month, requires toilets, changing rooms, hospital wards and refuges to be…

    • Russian snoops add OAuth abuse to targeted phishing campaigns

      Google’s Threat Intelligence Group says it is tracking three suspected Russian state-linked hacking groups running highly targeted phishing and OAuth-abuse campaigns against people in government, academia, aerospace, defence and think tanks across Europe and the US. The operations have been ongoing since at least last year, with some activity as recent as this month, and…

    • AI data startup Micro1 reaches $500M gross run rate amid AI training boom

      Micro1, a four-year-old AI data-labelling startup, has seen its gross annual run rate surge from $100 million to $500 million over the past eight months, reflecting soaring demand from AI labs and corporations for high-quality training data. The company, which contracts domain experts such as doctors, lawyers and scientists, retains roughly 60-70% of that revenue,…

    • Carville unloads on DSA socialists: ‘Don’t use our god—- name’

      Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville launched a blunt attack on the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) during a press conference for the “Promise to America” pledge, telling the group to stop using the word “Democratic” in its name. The remarks reflect a deepening rift within the Democratic Party between centrist figures such as Carville and…

    • 4 Rock Songs From 1989 That Every 80s Kid Still Knows by Heart Today

      American Songwriter has picked out four rock songs from 1989 that it says remain instantly recognisable to those who grew up in the 1980s. The feature highlights how, by the end of the decade, rock’s sound was beginning to shift towards a more modern style, yet 1989 still produced tracks that have endured in popular…

    • 10 Essential X-Men Comics For Beginners

      This Collider feature offers a beginner-friendly reading guide to essential X-Men comics, timed to renewed interest in the team following the announcement of the X-Men cast at Disney’s D23 convention and Jean Grey’s (Sadie Sink) upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With decades of complex, interconnected storylines to navigate, the article…

    • Learn what VCs actually want, from a founder who’s raised $1B

      A new episode of TechCrunch’s Build Mode podcast features Sasha Orloff, founder and CEO of Puzzle and a Startup Battlefield alumnus, discussing what investors actually look for when startups raise funding. Orloff has collectively raised over $1 billion across the companies he has built, and he stresses that VCs do not expect founders to run…

    • Killer beauty queen is PREGNANT a decade after bludgeoning husband to death amid jealous battle over his children… as her new life with boy toy lover is revealed

      Molly Martens, who was convicted over the 2015 killing of her husband Jason Corbett in a case that drew international attention, is reportedly pregnant a decade after his death, according to the Daily Mail. Martens, a former beauty pageant contestant from Knoxville, Tennessee, and her father were originally found guilty over the beating death of…

    • Aisha Wahab wins California’s 15th district special election

      State Senator Aisha Wahab, a progressive Democrat, has won the special election in California’s 15th congressional district, defeating Melissa Hernandez, a moderate BART Board president and transit executive. The result closes out the contest to replace Eric Swalwell and is being cast as another flashpoint in the wider struggle between the Democratic Party’s establishment and…