Ben Gregor

Film Director and Dad

So your kid likes acting and singing and wants to be famous? You want them to be the next Harry Potter? Justin Bieber? Well, as a film director I have to say that the first thing you need to do is... STOP!

Jonathan Simpson

Labour Councillor in Camden, the Borough's Mayor and Music Champion

If people don't go to these venues then they will be unsustainable in the long run. If smaller venues go then it will make it almost impossible for budding musicians to get their first gig. What will happen then? Will we be left with a situation where acts have to audition for talent shows to get their break? It's a depressing thought.

Orlando Seale

Actor, founder of the Southbank Sinfonia

Time travel was invented for festivals like How The Light Gets In (HTLGI). It's a maddeningly exciting place. Maddening because there's so much to see, hear, and taste, more than even the greediest of festival-goers could swallow, more than it seems possible to fit into one festival.

Sara Bran

Catching the Comet's Tail

Ben is a master of the kind of acute observation of family life that has you pondering the deeper significance of the type of breakfast cereal your spouse prefers.

Chrissie Hynde

Lead singer of the Pretenders

Force-feeding causes the birds' livers to balloon to up to 10 times their normal size and become diseased with what is known as hepatic steatosis. In addition to being miserably ill with a painful and debilitating disease, the geese can barely breathe because their grotesquely enlarged livers displace their lungs and other internal organs... geese can be seen panting constantly in a vain attempt to suck oxygen into their squashed lungs. Veterinarian Holly Cheever has compared what force-fed birds endure in their final days to being smothered.

Joe Satran and Amy Lee

There aren't any runner-ups in the game of thrones. You win, or you die -- or so we've heard. This week's episode focuses on the ambitions of those who haven't yet reached the heights they seek.

Karen Ruimy

Singer, author and co-founder of the global gender equality foundation, the GREAT Initiative

This week Eva Longoria invited me to co-chair the Global Gift Gala that she organizes every year in Paris, Cannes, London, Marbella, LA and Mexico. It is an amazingly generous event where she honors a charity and this year they are honoring the charity I established with Mariella Frostrup fighting for gender equality in the world.

Pat Higgins

Film director, writer and producer

As soon as you start trying to protect people from the potentially offensive, the whole thing turns into a giant game of whack-a-mole. Potentially offensive things leap up from all directions, and no sooner have you squashed one than a dozen more potential shocking things pop up instead.
Because EVERYTHING is offensive. In some context. To someone.

B.J. Epstein

Lecturer in literature and public engagement, University of East Anglia

Silly pop songs, over-the-top costumes and dance routines, and a (possibly) fake sense of intra-European bonhomie. Yes, it's easy to dismiss the annual Eurovision song contest. But wait. This year might be a little bit different. Eurovision might actually get political - and not just political in the usual sense that neighbouring countries vote for one another in a show of regional support... What better time to demand equal rights than when you have the eyes of much of Europe on you?

Paul Drury

Action at the intersection of art and advertising

With this year's Cannes film festival now in full swing, thought it was worth sharing a Cannes travel story with a difference. In 2012, we dared to dream the impossible dream. From a wet and windy West Yorkshire all the way to the world's most glamorous film festival.

Anne Morrison

Chair of BAFTA's Learning and Events Committee

Bafta is known for celebrating excellence at ceremonies such as Sunday's Arqiva British Academy Television Awards, but it also engages in activity to help a diverse range of talented people to develop and grow in their careers.

Ricky Gervais

Actor, writer, comedian, director, producer

I am so proud of The Ricky Gervais Show. Not just because of how well it turned out or how successful it was, or the awards, or even how much fun I had producing it. I'm proudest of the fact that it was just another experiment that got out of hand - The Ricky Gervais Show Series Three was released on DVD this week. To celebrate this final chapter I thought I'd tell the lovely readers of The Huffington Post the story of how we got here...

Bonnie Tyler

Singer, British entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

So here we are: I'm going to be flying the flag for the United Kingdom at the 58th Eurovision Song Contest this year in Malmo, Sweden. And what's more - I am completely honoured to do it! I have to be honest, I wasn't sure at first - but then it suddenly dawned on me that this is an incredible thing. It's an amazing opportunity to represent your country for doing something you love. In actual fact my husband Robert had represented the UK in the Olympic Games at judo in 1972. So we are two halves of a couple who have both done something for their country. Now that can't be bad!

Caroline Frost

Entertainment Editor, Huffington Post UK

If a film ultimately about emptiness leaves you 142 lavish minutes later feeling thoroughly depleted, does that mean it's a brilliant film? Discuss.

Annette Bourdeau

Entertainment Reporter

Much has been written about how often Judd Apatow collaborates with his wife, actress Leslie Mann. But why should they get all the ink when there are plenty of other Hollywood couples who manage to work quite well together, too?

Liza Klaussmann

Born in New York but lives in London. The Sunday Times top ten bestseller Tigers in Red Weather is her first novel

We're currently in the throes of a Great-Gatsby mania; beaded flapper dresses, tipped blazers and straw boaters are suddenly the height of fashion and Gatsby-themed, well, anything - charity galas, cocktails, pop-up speakeasies, even hotel suites.

Kaushik Ray

Development finance lawyer, global urban nomad, GQ columnist and self-confessed Eurovision obsessive

There's something peculiar about the UK's relationship with Europe. It's like an arranged marriage - seems a good idea on paper (interests aligned, status consolidated, families united). But then you get to know them. And sometimes love doesn't grow like they all said it would.