The Brunch round-up: The week and how it made us feel
We’re reconsidering our feelings for Naomi Campbell, keeping influencers out of the frame, and loving the news about Madonna

- 1
Ducking as we cheer.
It’s officially cool to like Naomi Campbell again. The supermodel, 53, has been working since she was 16. She’s been in the news as much for assaulting her employees as for her style and anti-racist activism. London’s V&A museum is displaying her clothes at a 2024 show. GenZ thinks she’s a firecracker. She may well be.

- 2
Setting boundaries.
Dae, a design shop and café in Brooklyn, USA, has had a no-laptop policy since it opened this year. Yet, influencers have been sweeping in to photograph the hyper-styled food and homeware (sometimes without buying anything!). Now, cameras, tripods and making Reels and TikToks are banned. You can do “quick snaps” at your own table. We stan.

- 3
Feeling like a virgin.
Madonna: A Rebel Life, by Mary Gabriel is 800 pages long, fast-paced and tells us so much we don’t know. Early jobs, getting fired, moments of fear, dating artist Jean-Michel Basquiat before they were both famous. We like our biographies like this: With meat, not sugar.

- 4
Making vacay plans.
A new policy requires every beach shack in Goa to put fish-curry rice on the menu. The timings are stricter (7am -11pm), UPI payments are more easily available, there are portable toilets and active CCTVs. Finally, the clean, safe, authentic Goa we’d been promised.

- 5
Keeping it secret.
Why are spy shows and films so dull these days? Vishal Bhardwaj’s Khufiya on Netflix had everything going for it (even Tabu, playing a RAW agent!). So why is it determinedly predictable, lacking shock and surprise? Even Mr & Mrs Smith and Spy Kids made the job look good. Wait, is actual spy work boring?


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