New homes: Our pick of the new builds going on sale in London this weekend March 22, 2019 New developments on the market this week Royal Docks West, Newham From £685,000 View the last homes at a development in east London where the landscaped gardens are the size of nine tennis courts. A 12th floor show apartment in a 19 storey building has opened up to sell the last of 79 private homes [...]
The White Crow: Ralph Fiennes’ biopic about legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev is a slow burner March 22, 2019 Saying someone is a ‘white crow’ in Russia is a bit like saying someone ‘sticks out like a sore thumb’ over here. It isn’t meant as a compliment in either country, but it could cost you your life in Krushchev’s Russia. Legendary ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev learnt that the hard way when he defected from [...]
Wetherspoon shares swing wildly as profit plunges March 22, 2019 | City Talk Five times the shares failed to make a break above 1,340p stick. Is it sixth time lucky for Wetherspoon? Alongside the usual diatribe against the Brexit process and the tax disparity with supermarkets, pub chain JD Wetherspoon (LSE:JDW) has fallen foul of higher costs, especially with regards to labour. This has impacted the bottom line [...]
Us review: Jordan Peele’s ambitious new film is a brilliant and unsettling commentary on social inequality March 21, 2019 Jordan Peele’s 2017 debut Get Out redefined what a modern horror movie could be. It was slick and smart and terrifying, its body-horror a twisted allegory for the racism – casual and otherwise – suffered by black people. And for a long time, I was pretty sure this follow-up was addressing the same issue, albeit [...]
Downstate at the National Theatre is a difficult drama that questions how society should treat its worst criminals March 21, 2019 A new play about a group of four convicted child sex offenders on supervised release in a social home in Illinois, Downstate is at times a difficult act to stomach. It’s an exercise in humanising a quartet of sex criminals, an exploration of the complex relationship between an abuser and their victim, and of the [...]
How to make money by doing nothing March 21, 2019 | Sponsored Owning a home in the capital is already the best financial decision you will ever make. But did you know your property could earn its own income, even while you’re living in it? Whether you own a terrace house in Tufnell Park or a pied-a-terre in Pimlico, holiday home rental site HomeAway can help turn [...]
Working Lunch review: The Baptist Grill in Holborn merges the ecclesiastic with the extravagant March 19, 2019 In spite of, or perhaps because of, recent efforts by developers to rebrand uncool Holborn as happening ‘Midtown’, it’s a district of London one still tends to pass through without stopping to look around. But on one corner of the crossroads outside the Tube station is a boutique hotel worthy of attention. The charismatic L’oscar [...]
Is the proposed ban on TV junk food ads before 9pm just another example of nanny state regulation? March 19, 2019 Is the proposed ban on TV junk food ads before 9pm just another example of nanny state regulation? Daniel Pryor, head of programmes at the Adam Smith Institute, says YES. When the government wants to treat TV ads for fruit juice like soft porn, you know something has gone horribly wrong. There’s no legal definition of [...]
What Men Want review: A badly made reboot of badly aged Mel Gibson comedy March 15, 2019 Back in the year 2000, before anyone knew any better, Mel Gibson was still a beloved star of the big screen. His Freaky Friday-esque comedy escapade What Women Want was smashing it at the box office, a bigger hit than anything he’d done previously and grossing three times what Mad Max had taken in. Alongside [...]
Heathrow boosts passenger numbers for 28th month in a row as London Fashion Week attracts tourists March 15, 2019 Heathrow Airport saw record rates of passenger traffic growth for the 28th month in a row in February as 5.48m travellers used the airport, up 1.7 per cent from the same time last year. The record-breaking streak was helped by London's Fashion Week, which invited visitors from 49 countries around the world to see collections from more [...]