World
‘Wicked Little Letters’ Review: Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley Play Sworn Enemies in Saucy Libel-Case Satire
A hundred years ago, before email and social media found ways to slap us in the face with unsolicited obscenity on a daily basis, the quiet English town of Littlehampton was scandalized by an outburst of poison pen letters — a nasty case of epistolary terrorism that today might be lumped under the heading of “trolling.” Someone with lovely penmanship and a very salty vocabulary dashed off dozens (if not hundreds) of blisteringly offensive notes to members of the seaside community, igniting a police investigation and a series of trials breathlessly covered by the local press, then largely forgotten for almost a century.
A bawdy black comedy that isn’t nearly as “outrageous” as it would have you believe, “Wicked Little Letters” offers a tongue-in-cheek retelling of those events for the Merchant Ivory set. Titillating profanity aside, it’s a relatively tame critique of 1920s gender dynamics, focusing on the two women at the center of the affair — a sour-puss spinster named Edith Swan, who received the bulk of the harassment, and her disruptive Irish neighbor, Rose Gooding, whom she accused of sending the raunchy missives — as well as the female detective responsible for untangling the mystery.
It doesn’t take much of a detective to realize that adds up to something fairly rare: a period film with three substantial leading roles for women, set (in the words of the local priest) at “a time when morality is threatened and women everywhere are losing their decorum.” Small wonder, then, that director Thea Sharrock attracted such a strong cast.
Edith is played by Olivia Colman with an exaggerated piousness that tips toward cartoonish, while the part of force-of-nature Rose proves perfectly suited to “Wild Rose” star Jessie Buckley. As a single mom with a Black boyfriend (Malachi Kirby) who drinks and swears and makes love at all hours, Rose challenges the puritanical patriarchy to which her neighbors kowtow (in one scene, her “furious jumping” nearly dislodges the crucifix hanging from long-suffering Edith’s wall). The two characters could hardly be more different, and yet we’re told they were once best friends.
Edith lives at home with an insufferably strict father (Timothy Spall), who spouts off about women’s suffrage and other perceived threats to his authority, while Rose doesn’t hesitate to tell people what she thinks of them. For a time, Edith found a kind of vicarious satisfaction in Rose’s liberated attitude. But now that Edith imagines herself on the receiving end of Rose’s insults, she can abide it no longer. “She’s heinous,” Edith complains a bit too enthusiastically to the police, “and she’s what we feared would come after the war.” For their part, the authorities show an alarming lack of curiosity when presented with what seems like an open-and-shut case.
Only Gladys Moss (“We Are Lady Parts” vet Anjana Vasan) suspects otherwise, representing the weaker leg of the central trio. As Sussex’s first “woman police officer,” she’s confronted by sexism and racism every day on the job: Her male colleagues use the word “woman” the way they might “canine,” for example — as though astonished the opposite sex can be of any help in a professional setting — interrupting their locker-room banter to put Gladys in her place whenever possible. It’s an insufferable work dynamic, which Sharrock and screenwriter Jonny Sweet are none too subtle about calling out.
The movie feels very of-the-moment (almost frustratingly so) in its critique of religious hypocrisy and backward gender dynamics, and yet, one longs for a little more nuance in the clownish way these bigots and blowhards are depicted. In truth, the so-called “Littlehampton libels” built to a twist, which a decent contingent of the audience will surely see coming. The English courts of that time might not have taken handwriting analysis seriously, but the evidence is clear as day to our eyes. Plus, the culprit is hiding in plain sight.
Meanwhile, Edith seems to relish all the attention the indignity brings as the case drags on, collecting the newspaper articles written about the shame she’s suffered. (As her mother, Gemma Jones scolds Edith, lest she grow too prideful.) Who knew that enduring such abuse could turn this dowdy old maid into an unlikely local celebrity? Contained in the conflict between these two women is a deeper commentary about the media and how the public relishes a good scandal, rushing to judge with only a fraction of the facts. In Sharrock’s hands, “Wicked Little Letters” is an entertaining account of what feels like a primitive form of today’s online flame wars, where people take sides as commenters openly disparage one another.
Ironically, however hurtful Edith and others found these personal attacks to be, they merely compounded the humiliation by going public with what had been written about them. Good that they did — for our sake, at least — as it’s a hoot to hear Armando Iannucci-caliber insults being lobbed in this conservative 1920s milieu. Amid all that bullying, it is free-spirited Rose who shows what dignity looks like, rising above the slander.
World
Canada’s Carney under pressure to act after synagogues shot at in latest antisemitic incidents
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Over the weekend, two Toronto synagogues were attacked by gunfire. Several days earlier, another synagogue was hit by around twenty gunshots on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Though the three attacks caused no injuries, many in the Jewish community are demanding concrete action from Prime Minister Mark Carney — not just words of comfort that have typically followed such antisemitic incidents.
Carney took to X saying that the “antisemitic and criminal attacks violate the right of Canadian Jewish men and women to live and pray in complete safety” and “represent a serious assault on the way of life of all Canadians.”
ISRAELI MINISTER WARNS CANADA IS ‘MARCHING TOWARD THE ABYSS’ AFTER JEWISH MAN ATTACKED IN FRONT OF CHILDREN
Temple Emanu-El in Toronto, Canada was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
In the aftermath of the first synagogue attack, Israel’s National Security Council warned Israelis overseas to “maintain vigilance and adhere to safety precautions.” Among their suggestions were for Israelis to “conceal Jewish and Israeli identifiers while in public spaces,” to be aware of surroundings “in areas associated with Israel or Judaism,” and to “avoid visiting sites identified as Jewish or Israeli.”
On X, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that “all eyes are on Canada: it’s time to halt the unprecedented wave of Jew-hatred that has erupted since October 7th.”
Anti-Israel demonstrators gather outside Union Station during a rally in Toronto, Ontario on Jan. 4, 2024. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Like many Western countries, Canada has seen a marked rise in annual antisemitic incidents since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The League for Human Rights B’nai Brith Canada found that there were 6,219 incidents of antisemitism in Canada in 2024. This constituted an average of 17 incidents per day, more than double the eight incidents per day calculated in 2022.
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While figures for 2025 have yet to be released, Public Safety Canada noted that from April to June 2025, “Among hate crimes targeting religion… the majority were directed at the Jewish community (69%).”
Conservative MP Roman Baber, said the behavior of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and other liberal Canadian politicians have been “adding fuel to the fire of Jew hatred in Canada.”
Baber aimed further criticism at Carney, saying, “When the Prime Minister on the campaign trail says he knows there is genocide in Gaza, he engages in Jew hatred.”
General view of Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue in Thornhill, north of Toronto, Ontario. The place of worship was one of three synagogues attacked in early March 2026.
Baber was referring to an event in April 2025 during which a heckler yelled over a bustling crowd that “there is a genocide happening in Gaza.” Carney responded, “I’m aware, that’s why we have an arms embargo.”
SKYROCKETING ANTISEMITISM IN CANADA SPARKS CONCERN FOR COUNTRY’S JEWS AHEAD OF ELECTION
Carney later said that he did not hear the heckler use the term “genocide.”
Baber noted that “when the Prime Minister recognized the Palestinian state, he rewarded the brutality of Hamas, and he did so on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.”
In his announcement, released the day prior to the Jewish holiday, Carney claimed that recognizing “the State of Palestine, led by the Palestinian Authority, empowers those who seek peaceful coexistence and the end of Hamas,” and “in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it.” He also claimed recognition “in no way compromises Canada’s steadfast support for the State of Israel, its people, and their security.”
Anti-Israel protesters gather outside the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto synagogue on March 7, 2024. The place of worship was one of three synagogues shot at in the first week of March 2026. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Watchdog organization StopAntisemitism told Fox News Digital that “every day we are seeing painful reminders that antisemitism remains a real and dangerous threat. Acts of violence meant to intimidate or silence our community will not succeed. Loud and proud Jews will not allow hatred or fear to deter our Jewish way of life or our presence in the world. Not in Canada, in the United States, in Europe, and certainly not in Israel.”
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StopAntisemitism called for the perpetrators to “be punished to the fullest extent of the law so that justice is served and deterrence is clear.”
Warning comes as 400 million barrels of oil are being released from global reserves during waterway’s closure.
Published On 11 Mar 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it will not allow “a litre of oil” through the Strait of Hormuz as the closure of the key Gulf waterway continues to roil global energy markets during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
A spokesperson for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters said on Wednesday that any vessel linked to the United States and Israel or their allies “will be considered a legitimate target”.
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“You will not be able to artificially lower the price of oil. Expect oil at $200 per barrel,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The price of oil depends on regional security, and you are the main source of insecurity in the region.”
Global oil prices have fluctuated wildly this week during continued US-Israeli attacks against Iran, which has retaliated by firing missiles and drones at targets across the wider Middle East.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies transit, and production slowdowns in some Gulf countries have raised concerns of further disruptions.
Concerns around the duration of the war, which began on February 28 and has shown no sign of abating, are also adding to uncertainty, sending oil prices soaring.
On Wednesday, three ships were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, maritime security and risk firms said, including a Thai-flagged cargo vessel that came under attack about 11 nautical miles (18km) north of Oman.
Release of oil reserves
World leaders, including members of the Group of Seven (G7) and the European Union, have been mulling what action to take in response to the war’s impact on global economies.
Christian Bueger, a professor of international relations at the University of Copenhagen and an expert in maritime security, said Europe will be facing “a major energy supply crisis” if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened.
“For the shipping industry right now, it’s impossible to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Bueger told Al Jazeera. “And if there are not stronger signals in the near future that they can at least try to go through the strait, then we are looking at a major shipping crisis, which can last weeks if not months.”
On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that its 32 member countries had unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency reserves to try to lower prices.
“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said during an address from the agency’s headquarters in Paris.
“But to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
The reserve supplies will be made available “over a timeframe that is appropriate” for each member state, the IEA said in a statement without providing details.
German Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche said earlier in the day that the country would comply with the release while Austria also said it would make part of its emergency oil reserve available and extend its national strategic gas reserve.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it would release about 80 million barrels from its private and national oil reserves.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the country, which gets about 70 percent of its oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz, would begin releasing the reserves on Monday.
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