There is room for two on the US’s east coast November 18, 2012 Hopping over a grate steaming with hot air from the metro system below, I stroll past the gleaming plate glass wrapped around the ground floor of the towering skyscrapers of downtown. As I swing open the door of the city’s chicest fashion boutique, the rooftop bar next door breaks through the traffic noise with an [...]
Warning: slow growth ahead November 14, 2012 THE BANK of England slashed growth forecasts again yesterday, predicting the economy will now not recover to its pre-recession levels until 2015. And inflation will be higher than expected, eating away at wages and keeping household finances under pressure. Governor Sir Mervyn King did not rule out any further money printing in future, but did [...]
Halo 4: as much fun as you can have on an Xbox November 7, 2012 GAME HALO 4 Xbox 360 | ***** HALO ISN’T just a video game – it’s a gigantic, multimedia behemoth, crushing all in its path under its metal-plated boots. Since the original Halo launched on Microsoft’s first Xbox, the franchise has grown to fill an entire universe, with spin-offs including an animated web series, a graphic [...]
Mutton doesn’t have to dress like lamb: it’s just fine as it is November 5, 2012 Head chef, Paternoster Chop House I don’t know why but people have started asking me about mutton. Maybe it’s because I run a British restaurant and I have big mutton chop sideburns – but whatever: it’s got me thinking. Why don’t we eat more mutton in this country, and could there be a demand for [...]
Why banishing fraudsters isn’t such a bad idea November 4, 2012 IN 1814, my ancestors Mary and William met and fell in love on a cruise from England to Australia. It must have been romantic, sailing the three month ocean journey, eating fresh fish while watching the crimson red sunset merge with the sapphire blue waters. Except for one thing, of course. They were convicts. Both [...]
No automatic happy ending for publishers that merge October 29, 2012 IT IS hard not to wince at the self-delusion of yesterday’s press release from Pearson and Bertelsmann. Describing the firms’ agreement to merge Penguin and Random House, Pearson’s outgoing chief executive Marjorie Scardino says: “Together the two publishers will be able to… be more adventurous in trying new models in this exciting, fast-moving world of [...]
Hard-to-beat meat at Beard To Tail October 22, 2012 RESTAURANT BEARD TO TAIL 77 Curtain Road, London, EC2A 3BS Tel: 020 7729 2966 FOOD ***** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost for two people with wine: £100 I’m ONE of of those awful meat eaters that should really be a vegetarian but in actual fact, loves poor-quality canned meat and a post-pub kebab too much [...]
Lech has all the goodness of the Alps without the crowds October 14, 2012 LECH is what Aspen wants to be when it grows up,” is how I’ve heard Austria’s Alpine region described. Now, I’m no skier (hate the cold and don’t have great balance) but this statement alone made me want to visit Lech. So, full of Olympic fatigue and eager for a change of scenery, I headed [...]
Fish Market may look a bit like an aquarium but the food is ace October 8, 2012 RESTAURANT FISH MARKET Old Bengal Warehouse, New Street, EC2 Tel: 020 3503 0790 FOOD **** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost per person without wine: £30 The Fish Market is one of the four new creations by restaurant group D&D to have found a home in the newly renovated Old Bengal Warehouse. Alongside the fish restaurant [...]
Visit Malaysia for the birds, the bees and the leeches October 7, 2012 MY HERO swoops down in the nick of time. I’m perched atop a bare rock, too petrified to move when she flies to my rescue. Barely seven inches tall, the blue-winged pitta flits to the ground and within moments, her beak is filled with what look like needle-thin worms. I’ve never been happier to see [...]