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'It's almost like a weapon': How the blonde bombshell has symbolised desire and danger Western culture, she says, has built a whole mythology around female blondeness − from religious iconography and fairy tales, to art and advertising − that has told specific stories about what it means to be blonde. In cinema's early years, comedies such as Platinum Blonde (1931) and Bombshell (1933), starring Jean Harlow, embedded concepts of the dazzling, devastatingly beautiful blonde into the cultural vernacular. "The idea that you're a bombshell, it's almost like a weapon," says Nead. "On the one hand, it is this kind of ideal, but at the same time, it's also threatening."   Before Harlow, there was another − more natural-looking − blonde on the scene: Mary Pickford, whose amber curls helped earn her the moniker of "America's Sweetheart". But while Pickford played the guileless girl waiting to be rescued, Harlow's peroxide blonde ...
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 Europe 'at turning point in history', French president warns


EU leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as France's President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a "turning point of history".

As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the body can further support Kyiv in the face of US President Donald Trump's announcement on Monday that he would suspend aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelensky is invited to the summit.

Nerves have grown increasingly frayed across Europe since Trump and Zelensky's showdown at the White House last week, and the rhetoric around Thursday's summit leaves no doubt about the importance EU officials are ascribing to it.

Three years on since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Trump administration's overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin have left many in Europe concerned the continent would not be able to rely on US support for its security.

In a sign of the depth of concern, President Macron said France was open to discussing extending the protection offered by its nuclear arsenal to its European partners, during an address to the nation on Wednesday.

That followed a call from Friedrich Merz, likely to be Germany's next chancellor, to discuss increased nuclear sharing.

Europe was facing a "clear and present danger on a scale that none of us have seen in our adult lifetime", European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, while European Council President António Costa said this was a "defining moment for Ukraine and European security".

In a letter to European leaders, von der Leyen also said the continent had to "meet the moment" and "unleash our industrial and productive power and direct it to the goal of security".

On Monday, von der Leyen announced an unprecedented defence package - dubbed ReArm Europe - and said that Europe was ready to "massively" boost its defence spending "with the speed and the ambition that is needed".

Their bilateral meeting will focus on a possible peace plan while efforts continue to bridge a transatlantic rift over Kyiv's future security.

Perhaps in a final bid to try and achieve unity ahead of the summit, Emmanuel Macron - who has positioned himself at the centre of the EU's efforts to bridge the gap between Kyiv and Washington - invited Orban to have dinner in Paris on Wednesday evening.

The two leaders met immediately after the French president gave a sombre address to the nation in which he said that France and Europe needed to be ready if the US was no longer by their side.

"We have to be united and determined to protect ourselves," Macron said. He added that the future of Europe could not be tied to Washington or Moscow, and said that while he "wanted to believe that the US will stay by our side, we have to be ready for this not to be the case".

The French president plans to hold a meeting of European army chiefs in Paris next week.

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