Barcelona to face trial over Neymar signing tax evasion March 13, 2015 Barcelona will stand trial for tax fraud and administrative irregularities following an investigation into their signing of Brazilian forward Neymar. The four-time European champions, who describe themselves as “more than a club”, are alleged to have evaded around €9m (£6.4m) of tax in the 2013 signing of Neymar from Santos. The Catalan’s [...]
Theatre review: Antigone starring Juliette Binoche March 13, 2015 Barbican | ★★☆☆☆ A new translation of Sophocles’ ever-resonant Antigone by poet Anne Carson is one thing, but add cinematic icon Juliette Binoche and director du jour Ivo van Hove – whose rapturously received A View From The Bridge recently transferred to the West End – and you have what sounds like a guaranteed success. [...]
Art review: RCA Secret March 13, 2015 Royal College of Art | ★★★★☆ Want to get your hands on a Grayson Perry for £55? Head down to RCA Secret, the annual exhibition of postcard-sized drawings, collages and photographs by the world’s leading artists. Now in its 21st year, the show is so-called because the 250 postcards are signed on the back, [...]
Film review: Suite Francaise March 13, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ Suite Francaise is a handsome adaptation of the Irène Némirovsky novel Dolce, written during the Second World War before she was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942. The unfinished work was eventually published by Némirovsky’s daughter in 2004, and became a critical and commercial phenomenon. While the film doesn’t live up to [...]
Champions League: How Premier League clubs’ finances have been affected by European failures March 13, 2015 After Chelsea’s failure to beat a 10-man Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday left it looking increasingly likely that the Premier League will have a representative in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, English clubs’ deficiencies in Europe have once again been thrown under the spotlight. English clubs have not only been made to appear [...]
Savage Beauty: A triumphant celebration of Alexander McQueen’s life work March 13, 2015 Victoria and Albert Museum | ★★★★☆ First things first: right the wrong. New York may have held the first major posthumous Alexander McQueen exhibition, but London was the city whose rhythms and edges gave life to the designer’s clothing. Savage Beauty opens with a room entitled “London”, which reaffirms the UK capital as the “epicentre” [...]
Theatre review: Clarence Darrow is Kevin Spacey’s triumphant farewell March 12, 2015 Old Vic | ★★★★★ Kevin Spacey’s eyes glisten as he delivers his valedictory line: “Mercy is the highest attribute of man.” Mine glistened, too. For a moment, the audience knew how a jury in a case presided over by Clarence Darrow must have felt: captivated, moved and above all, persuaded. From this curmudgeonly war horse [...]
Something for the weekend March 12, 2015 LEARN! FUTURE FEST This weekend will see a series of speeches and performances addressing the future and our place in it. The schedule will include talks from Edward Snowdon (via web-link, of course), Vivienne Westwood and Jon Ronson. Weekend tickets cost £80. futurefest.org WATCH! BACKYARD CINEMA Backyard cinema is literally going up in the world, [...]
Cricket Comment: Demoting Moores and ditching stats could help boost England March 12, 2015 IT would be unfair if England head coach Peter Moores was sacked. He hasn’t had a huge amount of time to prove himself and he was thrown in at the deep end slightly with a World Cup coming so soon after his appointment last April. But looking at the style of cricket England have played [...]
Spitting actions of United’s Evans branded disgusting by FA panel March 12, 2015 THE actions of Manchester United defender Jonny Evans in spitting at Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse were branded disgusting by the Football Association (FA) panel which found him guilty. Evans and Cisse were both charged after allegedly spitting at each other during Manchester United’s 1-0 Premier League victory over Newcastle at St James’ Park earlier this [...]