The Long Weekend: Why ancient Porto is the ultimate Euro city break city break THE WEEKEND: We booked a long weekend in Porto by chance, listing everywhere in Europe with mild weather and reasonable flight times for a London getaway. And thank goodness we did, because this city – a rabbit’s warren of vertiginous alleyways pulsing with street music and imbued with the aroma of centuries-old port – is [...]
When will our lives begin? What I learned from 2020 — and from Disney’s Tangled Like so many people tasked with entertaining children over Christmas, I have spent the last week watching an inordinate amount of Disney. That is to be expected. What I did not expect was finding the ultimate lockdown song. I am talking of the opening number from Tangled, the 2010 version of Rapunzel, entitled “When will [...]
It’s not about fish, it’s about control Throughout the highs and lows of the Brexit rollercoaster over the past five years, there has been precious little that can be regarded as consensus. One thing we can probably agree on, however, is that of the 17,410,742 people who voted to leave the EU, most of them probably didn’t do so on the basis [...]
Vaccine or no vaccine, Britain must relearn how to live with risk December 4, 2020 The approval this week of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the UK heralds the beginning of the end of this hellish pandemic. People are rejoicing — and rightly so. A vaccine was the light at the end of the Covid tunnel, and with the first doses due to be administered in a matter of days, there [...]
It’s closing time for the nation’s pubs and bars — perhaps for good November 27, 2020 I’ve never considered myself a great fan of pubs. As someone who doesn’t drink beer and who came of age exactly as the golden age of pubs was on the wane (so aficionados tell me, citing the smoking ban as the moment the moment things started going downhill), the appeal has always been limited. But, [...]
Pay no attention to the dysfunctional comms team behind the Downing Street curtain November 13, 2020 There’s a well-known warning in the world of theatre tech: if someone notices the lighting, you haven’t done your job. Yes, sometimes dazzling special effects are what make a show, but nine times out of 10 the audience only becomes aware of the tech if something goes wrong. The way you know you’re doing a [...]
Why Congham Hall in Norfolk should be your next staycation November 9, 2020 We all need something to look forward to right now, and with foreign travel likely to be a risky business for the foreseeable future, staycations should be at the forefront of your plans. Here’s a perfect country retreat just a couple of hours from London. The weekend If you’re looking for a getaway just outside [...]
America fought the drugs — and this week, the drugs won November 6, 2020 As the results continue to trickle in across America, there is one clear winner from the 2020 US election: drugs. From Montana to New Jersey, South Dakota to Arizona, in every state that had relaxing restrictions on the use of cannabis on the ballot, voters backed pot over prohibition. Oregon went further, with the sweeping [...]
For Corbyn and antisemitism, “sorry” still seems to be the hardest word October 30, 2020 One of the markers of genuine leadership is being able to recognise when you have been wrong, to apologise, and to commit to a change of course. This is an attribute that Jeremy Corbyn had multiple opportunities to demonstrate as the Labour party lurched from one antisemitism crisis to the next under his leadership. Each [...]
Entrepreneurs don’t want Rishi’s restaurant handouts — they want to be allowed to do their jobs October 23, 2020 The Conversative Father Christmas — Rishi Sunak, to you and me — has visited once again. In a better-late-than-never display of magnanimity, the chancellor has finally realised that conditions in Tier 2 Covid areas — which now cover 26.7 million people — make operating impossible for thousands of businesses, particularly in the hospitality sector. Whereas [...]
