Book review: The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow Life&Style No subject has made me go more hot and cold than AI. Some days, I open Gemini, Claude or ChatGPT, set tough tasks and am dumbstruck by the speed and accuracy of the results. Wow, this is the future, I think to myself. On other days, I ask something simple and they get it all [...]
Lectures in pubs are selling out. Sorry Michael Gove – experts are back Life&Style Once shunned by a populace 'tired of experts', a new generation is embracing intellectualism with personal curriculums and lectures for leisure.
Race a McLaren at the UK’s most exhilarating track day Life&Style At the UK’s most exciting track day, you can sample a McLaren GT4 race car, a Formula 3000 single-seater and much more, says Tim Pitt The gift was kindly meant, but I found it hard to hide my disappointment. Some 20 birthdays ago, my parents bought me a supercar experience. You know the sort of thing: [...]
Why the Norwegian Arctic is the best place to see the Northern Lights April 24, 2026 This Arctic outpost at the north of the Scandi nation is perhaps Europe’s best-kept travel secret, says Luke Abrahams Nighttime in Jøkelfjord, Norway, 215 miles north of the Arctic Circle. I dread to think what temperature it is. I’m hiding from the bitter air in a hot tub, although the opulence is interrupted when the [...]
The WhatsApp group trying to collectively sink one million pints April 24, 2026 Meet the group sharing photos of their journey to sink a million pints Plato asked how we define justice. Aristotle wanted to know what makes a good life. Einstein questioned if God plays dice with the universe, and Darwin wondered why species change. These questions changed history and laid the foundations of humankind’s place in [...]
Can an AI make art? And would it be worth looking at? April 23, 2026 The last year has seen artificial intelligence disrupt almost every industry – but can it really create art? Chris Dorrell speaks to artists working with AI and meets a robot painter In a darkened room in Camden, I kneel at an altar, pressing buttons on an illuminated red keyboard. Embossed with the shapes of human [...]
Is the romance boom a recession indicator? From Mills & Boon to BookTok April 23, 2026 From Mills & Boon to BookTok, romance fiction has thrived for more than a century. But what makes it so economically resilient?
How to experience Harry Styles’ Rome, from cool neighbourhoods to flea markets April 23, 2026 Why has Harry Styles fallen so deeply for the Italian capital? Amélie Outters checks out his favourite spots Near Campo de’ Fiori, inside a small Roman café, the queue moves slowly. The staff gruffly mumble orders in rapid Italian while customers lean over the glass counter, pointing at pizza sold by the centimetre and paid [...]
Inside the Wetherpoons pub with great Tower of London views April 22, 2026 Certainly not the most discerning watering hole in the Square Mile, Wetherspoons is nonetheless an institution. No matter what you think of it, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t offer incredible value for money. Here’s a look inside The Liberty Bounds, one of the lesser-known Wetherspoons pubs frequented by City folk. WHAT’S THE VIBE?This [...]
How bakers became the rock stars of London’s post-booze era April 22, 2026 Bakers have developed the clout of mixologists, finds Adam Bloodworth Anna Higham finds it extremely stressful when a queue forms outside her Quince bakery in Islington. She feels that, by definition, a line means she can’t give her best service, but she acknowledges that for many of the capital’s bakery touring elite, the absence of [...]