Six Nations 2016: Billy Vunipola on course to shatter England records in Grand Slam decider v France March 18, 2016 England’s task on Saturday is simple: beat France in Paris and crown a first Six Nations title in five years with a first Grand Slam since 2003. Should they do so, Eddie Jones’s men could be forgiven for paying little heed to the championship stats as they crack open beers in the Stade de France [...]
Six Nations 2016: England predicted to beat France and win grand slam according to complex mathematical formula from insurance group QBE March 18, 2016 England will win the grand slam by the finest of margins on Saturday – that's according to insurance firm QBE who have devised a complex formula to predict the outcome of Six Nations matches. QBE's rugby predictor has correctly forecast 9 of 12 results so far this tournament and came within two points of the [...]
Tottenham Hotspur 1, Borussia Dortmund 2 (Agg: 1-5): Pochettino urges Spurs to achieve “big things” in Premier League after European exit March 17, 2016 Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino brushed off a predictable European exit and urged his side to achieve “big things” in the Premier League after being outclassed by Borussia Dortmund. Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang chalked up his 35th goal of the season with a clinical double before a well-beaten Spurs replied [...]
Football betting: Noisy neighbours Manchester City to deafen Manchester United in derby March 17, 2016 There is more than bragging rights at stake as Manchester City host Manchester United on Sunday. Beyond the search for superiority in the playgrounds and pubs of the north west, this match could prove key in the final Premier League shake-up. City, in fourth, are four points above their rivals and know victory could go a [...]
Miss Atomic Bomb is an explosive night out that will make the audience fallout of the theatre in a glow March 17, 2016 St James Theatre | ★★★☆☆ Miss Atomic Bomb has suffered from theatre critics’ love of mean-spirited puns, with some suggesting it failed to detonate and others, less inventively, just saying it bombed. These assessments are overly harsh; though nobody would call it a blast, there’s a critical mass of enjoyable material here, such that after it [...]
Jane Horrocks’ love letter to post punk and new wave is a brilliant vanity project March 17, 2016 Young Vic | ★★★★☆ Jane Horrocks’ If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me is the kind of midlife crisis I hope I have one day. The star of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Absolutely Fabulous has been recording music with producer Kipper, because why the hell not? And why not perform it at [...]
Tom Hiddleston shines in High Rise, a stylish adaptation of JG Ballard’s architectural dystopia March 17, 2016 Dir. Ben Wheatley | ★★★★☆ "Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.” The opening sentence of JG Ballard’s High Rise is up there with the English literary canon’s very best. It’s all [...]
10 Cloverfield Lane review: a pared-back, genre-hopping success March 17, 2016 Cloverfield was a lurching, visceral monster movie that played on our post-911 fears of sudden, inexplicable horror occurring in our cities, its grainy hand-held footage recalling the language of 24-hour news channels. Eight years later its follow-up – “stable-mate” might be a better term – is every bit as skin-crawling, but for very different reasons. [...]
Bill Murray’s film Rock the Kasbah is ill-conceived, poorly-executed March 17, 2016 In Rock the Kasbah’s universe, all we need to do to end the troubles in the Middle East is send Bill Murray out there to tell them all what’s what. Murray essentially plays himself playing a struggling talent manager, whose paltry existence on the periphery of the industry is propped up by hustling X-Factor wannabes. [...]
Motown the Musical’s songs deliver, but the lack of story lets it down March 17, 2016 Shaftesbury Theatre | ★★☆☆☆ If you don’t like at least one song released on the Motown label between 1960 and 1975, you’re utterly joyless and there’s something wrong with you. Berry Gordy’s hugely successful label discovered a young Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson among literally hundreds of others. Many of their hits [...]