Has The Odyssey made the classics cool now? July 9, 2026 Are they elitist or universal? Either way, they’re Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey shows they’re going viral, says Eliot Wilson Classics – the study of ancient Greece and Rome, their languages, literature, history and art – is perceived not only as elitist, but as irrelevant, abstruse, without concrete value and self-indulgent. That you could [...]
How Swatch and Audemars Piguet pulled off the ultimate high-low watch collab July 7, 2026 Audemars Piguet and Swatch have teamed up to create a plastic pocket watch that riffs on the Royal Oak, turning an untouchable status symbol into something playful, divisive and irresistibly collectible. Sam Kessler asks: ‘What’s going on?’ On 16 May every Swatch Store in London closed for the day as hundreds of people queued outside, [...]
Harry Styles at Wembley Stadium review: running through the grief July 3, 2026 Harry Styles at Wembley Stadium review and star rating: ★★★★ Harry Styles is running in laps around an elevated rectangular walkway at Wembley Stadium. Barely stopping for sips of water, it’s exhausting to watch, especially in this heat. He’s wearing what looks like a thick cotton shirt and has sweated through most of it – [...]
Archduke play at the Royal Court: A fascinating comedy about radicalisation June 30, 2026 Archduke | Royal Court | ★★★★☆ I’m not sure what I expected from this play about the days preceding the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand – the event credited with starting the First World War – but it wasn’t a comedy of errors whose influences run the gamut from Withnail and I to Chris [...]
The Misanthrope at the National Theatre: Sandra Oh shines in a play that flatters to deceive June 30, 2026 The Misanthrope | National Theatre (Lyttelton) | ★★★☆☆ True to its name, this new version of The Misanthrope is a difficult play to love. Mercilessly updated from Moliere’s 17th-century comedy of manners by the mercurial Martin Crimp, it’s a jagged diatribe against… well everything. The literary world, the privileged, the young and the old, the [...]
Could The Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse win a Toast award? June 26, 2026 We’re celebrating all the places that make the Square Mile great with our Toast the City Awards. This week we sent David Harry – AKA The London Spy – to report on the amazing Billingsgate Roman Bathhouse lurking beneath an office block Underneath 101 Lower Thames Street, a nondescript 1960s office block, hides one of [...]
Pride musical at the National Theatre review: I’ve never seen so many people in tears June 26, 2026 Pride musical at the National Theatre review: ★★★★ Could there be a story more ready-made for a musical than the tale of the unlikely partnership between the gays and the Welsh miners? Based on the true, incredible account of the miner strikes of 1984 and 1985, and following the brilliant 2014 film of the same [...]
I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat June 26, 2026 TV tropes told Amelia Tait that life would be spent crawling through ventilation shafts and avoiding quicksand. The reality was very different… until now When I was old enough to know better but young enough for it to still be an excuse, I used to try and run through walls like Wile E. Coyote. I [...]
KSI on buying a football club, the manosphere and quitting alcohol June 25, 2026 KSI is pumped. We’re midway through a photoshoot at Dagenham & Redbridge football club and he’s standing in the centre circle, fists balled, roaring in mock ecstasy. This slightly shabby stadium is an incongruous place to meet one of the UK’s most successful content creators; the walk from the station takes you through one of [...]
London Indian Film Festival Returns with Star-Studded 2026 Programme Led by Aamir Khan June 25, 2026 London, United Kingdom – July 2026 – The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, returns for its 17th edition this July with an expanded UK-wide programme led by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan and a special Goodness Gracious Me reunion, alongside UK premieres and industry events across five cities. The London [...]