Wetherspoon and co make for easy laughs March 1, 2012 Film THIS MEANS WAR Cert: 12A *** WHEN Charlie’s Angels director McG meets Simon Kinberg, writer of the original Mr and Mrs Smith script, the result is big, brainless fun. Throw a great cast into the mix, ensuring they can deal with some incredibly cringeworthy clichés, and you’re onto a dumb-but-enjoyable winner. When CIA agents [...]
Canary Wharf station gets an arty screen March 1, 2012 CANARY Wharf station just got a whole lot more interesting. No longer just a place for commuters to rush through en route to work, it is – for the next year at least – home to a series of video art installations commissioned by Art on the Underground. The opening series of Canary Wharf Screen [...]
House prices rise more than expected March 1, 2012 House prices rose more than expected in February, data from mortgage lender Nationwide showed. Nationwide said that house prices ticked up by a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on the month – the biggest rise since April 2010 – and were 0.9 percent higher than a year earlier. That is follows a surprise monthly fall in [...]
Speed rules new generation of phones February 29, 2012 Mobile World Congress saw dozens of new handset releases, as the industry’s big players laid out their stall for the rest of the year. The overriding theme was power, with a new generation of quad-core processors imbuing mobile devices with speeds that were unimaginable even on desktop PCs only a few years ago. The new [...]
Persimmon to return £1.9bn to investors February 29, 2012 SHARES IN PERSIMMON soared to their highest in almost four years yesterday after the UK housebuilder unveiled plans to return £1.9bn in surplus cash to shareholders. Persimmon said it will pay investors a total of 620p per share through dividends over nine-and-a-half years starting in 2013, and will remain largely debt-free throughout the period. The [...]
Rev it up baby: Bentley’s super-hot V8 February 28, 2012 THE engine sound reminds me of a church organ,” I say as I press and lift my right foot on the accelerator in Bentley’s latest Continental GT V8. What an intensely lovely and rich sound it is too. The engine serves up sonorous notes rising from the deepest rumble at low speeds, before swelling upwards [...]
CAR TALK February 28, 2012 RANGE ROVER GOES TOPLESS A Range Rover convertible. Well, why not? Here’s the forthcoming Evoque Convertible concept that will be unveiled at the Geneva motor show. Officially Land Rover is just exploring whether such a car would prove popular amongst car buyers, but I’d be astonished if it doesn’t build what would be the world’s [...]
From Russia with fusion food February 27, 2012 Novikov 50a Berkeley Street, W1J 8HA T NW1 7JN , Tel: 020 7387 5277 FOOD *** SERVICE *** ATMOSPHERE **** Cost per person without wine: £50 It’s Russian, it’s huge, it’s in Mayfair and it has doormen inside and out, guarding its two restaurants and thumping bar. To me this sounded dubious, a blingy hangar [...]
Three dinners, six of the world’s best female chefs February 27, 2012 WHAT happens when you combine the very best women in the world of eating and drinking? Three epic dinners that offer a chance to celebrate female achievement in the male-dominated world of cheffing, alongside food and wine to blow your mind. Masterminded by ex-Ramsay star Angela Hartnett (pictured right) and food and wine writer Fiona [...]
Silvaner: a Bavarian gem February 27, 2012 Head Sommelier and Manager of Lutyens Restaurant German wine is in the middle of a golden age. But it’s easy to forget that despite the excellence and intensity of German Riesling, it’s not the only game in town. Today we’re taking a look at the Silvaner of Franken. It’s a grape variety you find in [...]