The latest Bentley Continental GT is a comfortable cruiser with the unmistakable soul of a sports car October 15, 2018 Say the word ‘veneer’ and most people think of cheap MDF furniture. Bentley, however, takes veneer very seriously. Its team of expert veneer hunters scours the globe for the finest wood finishes, rejecting up to 70 percent of each chosen tree. Then, the process of testing and treating the veneer takes at least 18 months [...]
The Drinks Master: Why whisky is the big cocktail mixer of 2018 – whatever gin fans might think October 15, 2018 Everyone is talking about gin, but it’s whisky that’s quietly dominating the British spirits market. It reclaimed its top spot this year – from vodka rather than gin – as Britain’s favourite spirit, selling 2.7m more litres than the year before. That’s an extra 54m neat drams, whisky gingers, manhattans, and old fashioneds. But there’s [...]
The unspoilt ski slopes of Gudauri in Georgia are Europe’s best kept secret October 12, 2018 The Georgian Military Highway winds its way from Tbilisi towards the Russian border, passing UNESCO churches, scenic reservoirs, and the somewhat over optimistically named Friendship Monument, a late 1980s celebration of Georgian-Soviet relations. As the road climbs higher, the forests cloaking the slopes grow thinner until you emerge above the treeline and they’re replaced completely [...]
othellomacbeth at Lyric Hammersmith review: A fascinating but not entirely successful Shakespearian experiment October 12, 2018 Until 3 November Shakespeare’s major works are so familiar that theatremakers are almost expected to be bold and innovative. What audience would choose to sit through a traditional staging of Hamlet, when it could be performed in Farsi, on tricycles, in a shoe shop? In a world of flamboyant reinventions, the Lyric Hammersmith’s othellomacbeth is, [...]
Editor’s Notes: The joy of Scan-dining, coming down to earth and never mind the Banksys October 12, 2018 The City’s restaurant scene has changed enormously even in the last few years. There’s more life in the Square Mile at weekends and more choice for City lunches than ever before. These are exciting times. A good way to get a sense of this is to embark, as I did yesterday, on a lunch safari. [...]
Bad Times at the El Royale review: A strange but bewilderingly original chamber piece October 11, 2018 The premise of Bad Times at the El Royale sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: a priest, a cop, a hippie and a singer walk into a hotel lobby. Each has something to hide, as does the hotel itself, which straddles the California and Nevada border and is staffed by a single bumbling [...]
What wicked rugs we weave: Anni Albers at the Tate Modern is a retrospective of modernism’s forgotten pioneer October 11, 2018 Born in Berlin in 1899, Anni Albers was a pioneer of the textile art movement. A weaver, designer, writer and printmaker, she trained at the Bauhaus, where she explored the possibilities of bringing weaving into the modernist project. She later became a teacher at the legendary Black Mountain College, where her work sought to redefine [...]
I’m Not Running at the National Theatre: David Hare’s political drama misses the mark October 11, 2018 With 17 original plays debuting at the National Theatre, screenwriting credits that include The Hours and The Reader, a steady stream of writer/director gigs for the BBC, and a knighthood, we may have to start referring to David Hare by that most patronising of titles: the national treasure. His latest play, I’m Not Running, centres [...]
First Man review: A thrilling and awe-inspiring Armstrong biopic October 11, 2018 When it was first screened, Damien Chazelle’s movie about that time we went to the moon drew criticism from a particularly moronic corner of society. Ryan Gosling stated his educated belief that Neil Armstrong never considered himself to be an American hero. Coupled with the director’s decision not to include a scene in which the [...]
Working Lunch: We try the three course foraging feast at Native’s new home near Borough Market October 9, 2018 Native 32 Southwark Street, SE1 WHAT AND WHERE? Native recently got into a spat with its neighbours in Covent Garden, so has moved to a new home near Borough Market. And it’s gorgeous – low-key, exposed brick with leafy vines climbing the walls; rather like eating in a secret courtyard. The food’s an attempt to [...]