Have a swinging New Year December 15, 2010 GOING OUT NEW Year’s Eve can often be a disappointment if you don’t get it right. Here is a list of the hottest parties in London, so you have no excuse. Sanctum Hotel: This rock’n’roll boutique hotel is throwing the ultimate house party. Kick the evening off with a four-course dinner before taking to the [...]
Boxy and practical but no beauty December 14, 2010 If the Škoda Roomster looks a little strange – as if the front half of the car was developed by a different team to the back of it – it’s not accidental, it’s by design. The concept underlying the Roomster set out to split the car into two “rooms”, a “driving room” up front and [...]
CAR TALK December 14, 2010 NEW SERIES M COUPE This is the new 340hp BMW 1 Series M Coupé that will debut at January’s Detroit motor show. The twin-turbocharged car will have a 0-62mph time of just 4.9 seconds which, amazingly, is just a fraction slower than the existing M3, despite the fact that the car will be a lot [...]
A new haven for gentlemen December 13, 2010 DESPITE the growing popularity of beauty products aimed at men, the prevailing wisdom in the grooming industry is that the majority of bloke-orientated creams, cleansers, colognes and aftershaves are bought for men by women. Some retailers put that figure as high as 70 per cent. While we’re more used to slathering ourselves in lotions and [...]
FIT IN THE CITY December 13, 2010 FITNESS & DIET EXPERT 1. CHOOSE YOUR POISON WISELY: UNLESS YOU WANT AN OVERHANG like Johnny Vegas, go easy on the beer. An eight pint binge means you’re taking in a whopping 1,600 empty calories – that’s the calorie-equivalent of a very large takeaway. Spirits with diet drinks and champagne make for better waistline choices. [...]
OUT OF OFFICE December 13, 2010 LOVE STORY – THE MUSICAL It’s extraordinary in this day and age to think that Love Story, the schmaltzy 1970 film that gave the world Ryan O’Neal in a duffel coat, and the phrase “love means never having to say you’re sorry,” swept the Golden Globes and caused grown adults to weep into their popcorn. More [...]
Journey into the mighty history of Samarkand December 12, 2010 AROUND Tashkent airport, giant hoardings proclaimed in English: “Uzbekistan Airways Wish You Good Luck”. It might have been more unsettling to read that message driving into Heathrow before our departure. In fact, we’d had an incident-free flight on Uzbekistan Airways to Uzbekistan’s capital. Tashkent sounds endlessly exotic but isn’t really. Much was destroyed by a [...]
Focus on Tunbridge Wells December 9, 2010 BISHOPS DOWN ROAD Price: £198,000 This one bedroom ground floor apartment is located within the development of Chartwell Lodge. The property is a short walk from the town centre where there are excellent shopping facilities, including the Royal Victoria Place shopping center and leisure centers. Facilities include a fitted kitchen and bathroom, a mirror wardrobe, [...]
LETTING December 9, 2010 Ceo of the uk’s largest online lettings agent upad.co.uk Q.My tenants have painted one of the rooms in the house I let them black. What do I do? A.(This question comes from a landlord who has discovered that one of the rooms in a house he rents out to private tenants has been painted black. [...]
PROPERTY NEWS December 9, 2010 DEMAND FOR PROPERTY AT QUARTER’S HIGH Demand for property is on the rise for the first time in four months, according to the National Association of Estate Agents. House-hunters increased in November, attracted to falling prices, while supply remains static. Close to Christmas, there are usually fewer sales to avoid family disruption; people also tend [...]