Review Disobedient Objects at the V&A July 24, 2014 The balaclava, the placard, the loudspeaker – the instruments of protest are well-established. Except they aren’t. As this exhibition at the V&A shows, the methods and means by which people have made their voices heard have been unimaginably varied. Think protest, and most people think violence, but the overriding impression given by the objects on [...]
Theatre Review: Medea July 24, 2014 A WOMAN driven by rage and jealousy to slaughter her children in a chillingly premeditated act of murderous revenge. In Greek tragedy, Medea is the ultimate portrayal of female wickedness – in Carrie Cracknell’s production at the National, it is not the wickedness but voicelessness which strikes us. “How could it end in any way [...]
The 2014 Commonwealth Games, and five other reasons Glasgow is still city of culture July 23, 2014 The Commonwealth Games opened in Glasgow last night and over the next two weeks tens of thousands of Londoners will make their way to the cultural heart of Scotland. They come as Scotland edges ever closer – according to the polls – to independence, giving the international showcase even more significance. But unlike other cities [...]
The Angel bar proving cocktail creation is an exact science + terroir cocktail recipe July 22, 2014 Alongside New York, London is just about the best city in the world for eating, drinking and partying. Whether you want to glam it up in Chelsea or slum it down in the East End, every taste, style, price and perversion is catered for. But no area is all things to all men (or women). [...]
Restaurant Review: Ten Room July 22, 2014 I wonder if Ten Room at Café Royal saw it coming. A multi-million pound restaurant in an iconic London hotel… If you listened carefully in the days leading up to opening week earlier this year, you could hear the faint, metallic screech of knives being sharpened. And by all accounts, it was more than deserving [...]
Car review: The BMW i8 July 21, 2014 We'd stopped the BMW i8 alongside Loch a’ Chroisg to swap drivers and stretch our legs. A bunch of us had flown up from Farnborough that morning to Inverness, and we were heading around the top of Scotland in a crazy five-hour drive, before flying south again mid-afternoon. Minutes later, the Land Rover Discovery that [...]
48 hours in… Munich July 18, 2014 Where to Stay One of the newest hotels in the Rocco Forte collection, The Charles is the place to stay if you want to do Munich in style. Recover from a night in the beer-halls with a morning lounging in your luxuriously furnished, high-ceilinged room. roccofortehotels.com/Charles-Hotel Where to go The Jewish and Medieval City [...]
Cochin, Kerala: The Indian town with all the beauty of Goa without the tourists July 18, 2014 The road from the Cochin airport is lined with enormous signs advertising wedding silk and jewellery shops. Is this India’s biggest wedding depot? “Saris!” was all I could get out of the driver for an explanation. But soon enough, bright pink and turquoise beach shacks began to line the road, Zen-looking men in nappy-like skirts [...]
Battersea Power Station hosts London’s latest pop-up cinema July 17, 2014 The sun has definitely got his hat on, so it’s perfect weather for heading south of the river to watch a film outdoors in the shade of London’s most iconic derelict building. Boutique cinema franchise Everyman has set up a nine metre screen in front of an army of pastel beanbags for the city’s [...]
Review: Gilbert and George White Cube July 17, 2014 Famously, Gilbert and George have lived in the same house for 45 years. That house is on Fournier Street, the link between Old Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane, and a great vantage point from which to witness the changing face of London. Over the past two decades the area has turned from grungy, deprived backwater [...]