Fitness expert November 18, 2013 WORKING OUT FOR THE HARD-WORKING You want more muscle and less fat, but you don’t have hours to spend in the gym. What’s the minimum amount of training time required to get into shape? And what should you do in that time to get the fastest possible results? The first step is to lift weights [...]
To Infiniti but probably not beyond November 18, 2013 This tech-heavy premium motor has an impressive array of gadgetry but fails to knock your socks off Performance first” is the motto of Infiniti, the premium car brand from the same company behind Nissan. You can tell it’s serious because, at the launch of its latest car in Barcelona, everyone from Infiniti is dressed like [...]
Not convinced? November 18, 2013 CHECK OUT THESE ALTERNATIVES… BMW ACTIVE HYBRID 3 PRICE: £40,560 0-62MPH: 5.3 secs TOP SPEED: 155mph CO2 G/KM: 139g/km MPG COMBINED: 47.9mpg The VERDICT: DESIGN Four Stars PERFORMANCE Four Stars PRACTICALITY Three Stars VALUE FOR MONEY Three Stars VOLVO V60 PLUG-IN HYBRID PRICE: £43,775 0-62MPH: 6.1 secs TOP SPEED: 142mph CO2 G/KM: 48g/km MPG COMBINED: 155.2mpg The VERDICT: DESIGN [...]
Less than the sum of its parts November 17, 2013 FILM THE COUNSELLOR Cert 18 | By Simon Thomson Two Stars GREEDY and ambitious, a successful lawyer ignores the warnings of his friends in the criminal underworld, and becomes involved with a Mexican drug cartel. When a shipment goes missing, suspicion falls on the counsellor (Michael Fassbender), and the perfect life he has built comes [...]
Where to drink November 17, 2013 LONDON bears many nightlife gifts in the run up to Christmas. Pleasure seekers can revel in Mason House, a 5000 sqft high-end nightclub on Argyll Street that has been designed to resemble a Masonic Temple. Guests enter the club through the crypt before arriving in an atmospheric main room fitted with neon installations, banquet seating, [...]
Chile: the most varied country in the world November 17, 2013 From mountains to desert, Ashwin Bhardwaj is enchanted by the diverse delights of Chile AT UNIVERSITY, we teased our Geographer housemate for doing a degree in “colouring in.” But we secretly envied his trips to exotic corners of the globe, digging ice cores and monitoring volcanoes. Visualising geography is difficult in England as this green [...]
The Butler is classy – but too eager to teach November 14, 2013 FILM THE BUTLER Cert 12a | Three stars THE Butler examines African-Americans’ struggle for civil rights in the 20th century through events in the life of White House butler Cecil Gaines, who served seven presidents, from Eisenhower to Reagan. It is essentially Forrest Gump, with moral didacticism instead of heart-warming whimsy. It is clear from [...]
A brilliantly acted revival at The Clare November 14, 2013 THEATRE THE ISLAND The Clare at the Young Vic | Four stars DUST swirls under bright lights as you enter The Clare Theatre at The Young Vic. Two men – The Island’s only characters – shovel piles of sand into wheelbarrows, only to walk to the other side of the stage and tip it all [...]
An ugly, nasty Brit-flick with no redeeming features at all November 14, 2013 FILM DOM HEMINGWAY Cert 15 | One star SAFECRACKER Dom Hemingway (Jude Law pictured) has spent 12 years in prison. On his release he teams up with his friend Dickie (Richard E Grant) to retrieve the money he’s owed for keeping schtum. Along the way he settles old scores, seeks new employment, and tries to [...]
Reich’s minimal masterpiece played to an adoring crowd November 14, 2013 MUSIC STEVE REICH Royal Albert Hall | Five stars THIS week saw the death of Sir John Tavener, a twentieth century British composer who spent his entire career lapsing in and out of the public consciousness. The spiritually attuned Tavener first entered the spotlight after becoming an obsession of New Age-fixated 60s popstars (he was [...]