Fitness advice: Why HIIT is great and why you’re probably doing it wrong February 21, 2020 HIIT has been a popular style of training for the last decade, commonly referred to as the best way to get fit quick. I was introduced to it just before it became the fitness industry’s buzzword, and was taken through a brutal workout to demonstrate the concept. Back then it was still a niche thing [...]
Working Lunch: Casa do Frango in Shoreditch is the posh Nando’s of your dreams February 21, 2020 We pick the best places to wine and dine your favourite clients. This week: Casa do Frango in Shoreditch What is it? If I were to say the words “authentic Portuguese piri-piri chicken”, chances are you’ve started salivating, like one of Pavlov’s greedy dogs, over the thought of a lovely, cheeky Nando’s. It doesn’t matter [...]
The Visit at the National Theatre review: Lesley Manville shines in this overly-long drama February 21, 2020 Dürrenmatt’s revenge tragicomedy arrives at the National’s Olivier Theatre in an adaptation by Tony Kushner, transporting the drama to post-war America. In the state of New York, in a poverty-ridden town appropriately named Slurry, the town’s residents are desperate for a break. They pin all their hopes on the return (or rather, the visit) of [...]
Greed film review: Steve Coogan sets out to prove greed is not good February 21, 2020 I’m a member of an very in-exclusive club: people whom Sir Philip Green has called a c**t. There was no real malice behind it – I was writing a story about his fashion brand and that was simply the way he spoke to the media. Still, there was something cathartic about watching Michael Winterbottom and [...]
Push film review: A challenging look at gentrification around the world February 21, 2020 Property developers, look away now. If you’ve never felt the slightest bit icky when buying a £4 cup of coffee in a formerly working-class neighbourhood, you’re probably not going to like Swedish filmmaker Frederik Gertten’s new documentary, Push. It’s all about gentrification, and whether we have the right to live affordably in a major city [...]
Interest in Milan is going beyond fashion week, as second home market booms in this chic ‘pocket metropolis’ February 21, 2020 This week, the world’s fashionable people descend on Milan as the city hosts the third of the four international fashion weeks. But the global crowd – and UK nationals in particular – are starting to show an interest in Italy’s second city that extends beyond the runway shows. Once known for being dull and industrial [...]
Designers Guild at 50: A joyful journey through the doyenne of design’s bold, bright creations February 21, 2020 Tricia Guild OBE doesn’t do same-y; she doesn’t do greige and she doesn’t do minimal. But looking back at the influential interior designs, fabrics, wallpapers, paints, upholstered furniture, homewares and books her company Designers Guild has produced over the past 50 years, it’s clear that what she does do, is happy. Guild conceived Designers Guild [...]
Call of the Wild review: A heartwarming trek through the uncanny valley February 20, 2020 Throughout his acting career, Harrison Ford has built a reputation for acting alongside large hairy things, whether they be a Wookiee copilot or Sean Connery at peak beard. Now the man stars alongside Buck, a sled dog made not of flesh and bone but a veil of polygons, generated by powerful graphics processors and wrapped [...]
Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales on Nintendo Switch review: Gwent is back and it’s never felt so good February 17, 2020 Gwent, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. The Witcher 3 is one of the truly great open-world games, mind-boggling in its scope and masterful in its execution. But there were times when it felt like elaborate padding around the in-game pastime, Gwent. I clocked over 300 hours in this [...]
Working Lunch: Jason Atherton’s Grosvenor Square restaurant The Betterment February 17, 2020 The best places in London to wine and dine your important clients. What is it? The Betterment is not, as the name suggests, an austere Swiss wellness centre, nor is it a cool new cult you can join. It is in fact the latest restaurant by Jason Atherton, who appears to have run out of [...]