Mutton doesn’t have to dress like lamb: it’s just fine as it is November 5, 2012 Head chef, Paternoster Chop House I don’t know why but people have started asking me about mutton. Maybe it’s because I run a British restaurant and I have big mutton chop sideburns – but whatever: it’s got me thinking. Why don’t we eat more mutton in this country, and could there be a demand for [...]
How to really booze like Bond November 5, 2012 When HE had his clothes on and wasn’t chasing baddies, there is no doubt that James Bond was a noted oenophile. You only have to have a passing knowledge of Ian Fleming’s books or the films to know that 007 was a full-on connoisseur. Forget the vodka Martini, that was just the aperitif; when it [...]
Thrill seekers put one foot in La Grave November 4, 2012 I am teetering on the edge of a cliff at the top station of Les Deux Alpes. I normally feel confident on my carving skis but this feels like no ordinary black run. Around me are some of the most spectacular views of the French Alps known to man, but all I can do is [...]
Stay warm and stylish on the slopes November 4, 2012 GANT Caldwell boots, £100 www.gant.com KJUS Formula four-way-stretch jacket, £730 www.mrporter.com Ray-Ban Aviator sunglasses, £155 www.mrporter.com KJUS GSM bluetooth skiing gloves, £180 www.mrporter.com Adidas by Stella McCartney Ski jacket, £350 www.adidas.co.uk Adidas by Stella McCartney Kattegat Boots, £175 www.adidas.co.uk
The Master is a trick sadly missed November 1, 2012 FILM THE MASTER Cert 15 | *** Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology-inspired The Master looks set to be a classic. The cinematography is sumptuous, the score is beautiful, and, of course, much Serious Acting takes place. However, there is an indecisiveness at the heart of The Master. It is 1950 and the 2nd world war has [...]
An emotionally bruising but satisfying yarn November 1, 2012 FILM RUST & BONE Cert 15 | **** Rust & Bone is a funny old yarn. Try explaining the concept and it sounds utterly ridiculous. Here goes: a sexy whale trainer starts an ambiguous relationship with a vagrant bare-knuckle fighter after she loses her legs in a freak orca-related accident. But where the premise is [...]
For a pretty good time, watch… November 1, 2012 FILM FOR A GOOD TIME, CALL… Cert 18 | *** After two films and six seasons of Sex and the City, the combination of raunchy dialogue, sex toys and gay best friends is no longer a shocking or original way to depict the lives of professional women in their thirties. For a Good Time, Call… [...]
House prices rise in October November 1, 2012 UK house prices rose 0.6 per cent in October, lender Nationwide said this morning, although values are still 0.9 per cent lower year on year. The lender puts the price of a typical home at £164,153, a slight uptick from last month. Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said this morning that the annual pace [...]
How the tech giants measure up October 31, 2012 What on earth have they been up to recently? Anything to write home about? It’s been a whirlwind few months for Microsoft, with Steve Ballmer (rightly) saying his company’s bet on Windows 8, and its emphasis on touch-screen technology, represents an “all in” moment. It has brought out new desktop, tablet and mobile phone operating [...]
Zacharanda and me: the true story of an accidental YouTube sensation October 31, 2012 IT WAS on the eve of Obama’s 2008 election victory that a friend of mine, quite inadvertently, became a YouTube “sensation”. Adam Smith, who at the time worked as a reporter for the Birmingham Mail, had flown himself to Miami to campaign for Barack Obama (because Miami was: “where the party’s at. I was hardly [...]